EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Health, Latvia, Legislation, Markets and Companies

The amount of bonuses paid by the Health Ministry varies greatly, from EUR 378 to EUR 4,466 before taxes. These bonuses were paid taking into account each employee's work intensity, as stipulated by the government's regulations, the ministry explained. The ministry's representative Oskars Sneiders said that the Health Ministry's employees are among the lowest-earning workers on the ministry level. "We issued these bonuses in order to motivate our employees," said Sneiders.

The Interior Ministry, too, has started paying bonuses to employees, refraining to reveal the number of employees and the amount of bonuses. The Justice Ministry, on the other hand, will reward 56 employees, but the Welfare Ministry – 39. The remaining ministries are still evaluating the performance of their staff.

As reported, the Latvian Presidency focused on three priorities: competitive Europe, digital Europe and engaged Europe.

The first country from the trio presidency was Italy in the second half of 2014, Latvia took over in the first half of the 2015 and the last part will be concluded with the Presidency of Luxembourg in the second half of the year.