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Solvita Aboltina.

Aboltina pointed out that Latvian farmers have been receiving the lowest direct payments, LETA was informed by the Saeima's press service. She added that during the Cypriot presidency of the EU, a further solution to allocate adequate cohesion financing to those countries whose economic growth between 2008 and 2010 were below the EU average must be found.

''At the same time, we must level out the direct payments made to farmers. It has not been easy explaining this to the public. This not only lessens our competitiveness, but also degrades solidarity between EU members, which is one of the bloc's basic principles,'' the Saeima speaker pointed out.

She also accented that there are different points of views on the most suitable way to recover from an economic crisis, but that Latvia is a good example that fiscal discipline measures can help countries get back on the right track.

Informing the other parliamentary speakers about the situation in Latvia, the Saeima speaker emphasized that Latvia's economic growth rate reached 5.5% last year, which was larger than previously expected. She also added that Latvia's GDP growth in the first quarter of 2012 was the largest in Europe.

The Saeima speaker also thanked her Nordic and Baltic colleagues for attending last year's events in Riga marking the 20th anniversary of the de facto restoration of Latvia's independence, pointing out that this is political and symbolic confirmation of the close cooperation between the Nordic and Baltic countries over the past 20 years.

As reported, Aboltina is currently in Finland, where she is attending the annual conference of the NB8 conference.

On the agenda for this year's conference is discussion on overcoming the economic and financial crisis in Europe, parliamentary control of the government, nuclear energy perspective in Europe, as well as relations between the European Union and Belarus.

At the request of the Norwegian parliamentary speaker, also discussed during this year's conference will be challenges, while at the same time improving the transparency of parliaments and increasing security.

Aboltina will acquaint her colleagues with the current efforts of the Latvian parliament, and will inform them about the situation with Latvia's economy. She will also talk about Latvia's priorities within the EU, including within the EU's multi-annual budget.

The NB8 conference takes place annually in one of the participating countries, and gathers the parliamentary speakers of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland.