EU – Baltic States, Forum, Latvia, Legislation, Security

Laimdota Straujuma and David Cameron. Riga, 22.05.2015. Photo: flickr.com

D. Cameron praised the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, assessing it as “very successful”, as well as congratulated for the successful organization of the Riga Summit.

Discussing bilateral relations between Latvia and the United Kingdom, the Heads of Government of the two countries expressed satisfaction over excellent and intense bilateral relations.  The officials mentioned the opportunities for future cooperation provided by the Northern Future Forum, as well as international cooperation frameworks.

The Prime Minister expressed gratitude to D. Cameron for the UK involvement in strengthening security of the Baltic States, by taking part in regular air patrols and military exercises.

According to L. Straujuma, constant presence of NATO in the Baltic States is a long-term objective and necessity. She informed D. Cameron about the Latvian government’s objective to spend 2% of GDP on defence.  The European Union also needs to strengthen the area of strategic communication.

Discussing the conflict settlement in Ukraine, both parties were of the opinion that full implementation of the provisions of the Minsk ceasefire is a prerequisite for termination of sanctions against Russia.

L. Straujuma listened to D.Cameron’s vision of holding a referendum in the UK on the EU issue that was addressed during Cameron’s electoral process. The two parties were in a full agreement that "the EU’s four fundamental freedoms are completely non-negotiable; they are and should remain in the EU framework agreement.