A look back at the week of September 23 to September 27

Monday, September 23

- A meeting of the CAL Office is held.

- CAL Office planning meeting for the Human Development Awards ceremony.

Tuesday, September 24

- A planning meeting was held at the CAL Office on the activities to be implemented in 2024 and 2025.

- CAL Head of Advocacy L. Putāne participated in the Cabinet of Ministers meeting on the draft Latvian national position on transparency of third country advocacy.

Wednesday, September 25

- A meeting of representatives of NGOs tok place before the Memorandum Council meeting.

- The monthly meeting of the Memorandum Council was held to discuss the state budget adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers and public participation in its elaboration, as well as to clarify the issue of importance for NGOs, namely the Ministry of Finance's intention to apply corporate income tax (CIT) to NGOs. Representatives of the Ministry of Finance informed the participants and answered questions. The Ministry of Finance confirmed that these amendments are currently not included in the 2025 budget package and work on them will continue after the approval of the draft state budget. The representatives of the Ministry of Finance promised to consult NGOs on the drafting of the amendments to the CIT. On the subject of the national budget, although all stakeholders are aware that the budget and resources are limited and security is a priority, the CAL invited all ministries to clarify whether and how exactly NGOs were consulted on the budget.

- CAL Director Kristīne Zonberga participated in a roundtable discussion on the implementation of the Recovery Fund in Latvia. The discussion was also attended by Céline Gauere, Director-General of the European Commission's Recovery and Resilience Working Group RECOVER, as well as social partners, business, NGOs and other organisations, who shared their experiences and views on the Recovery Fund reform and investment implementation process. The discussion focused on examples of good practice as well as challenges faced by organisations in implementing AF projects.

- A monthly working group meeting was held to continue work on the Volunteering Law and system improvements in Latvia.

- CAL's Head of Advocacy L. Putāne took part in the presentation of the results of the OECD study on trust in public administration.

Thursday, September 26

- CAL Head of Adcocacy L. Putāne attended the meeting of State Secretaries.

Friday, September 27

- CAL's Head of Advocacy L. Putāne and Policy Coordinator A. Mālkalna participated in an information seminar on the requirements of the Cybersecurity Law.

Saturday, September 28

- CAL’s Director K. Zonberga took part in the forum "Latvian Diaspora Forum 2024" organised by the association "Latviesi.com" and the Centre for Diaspora and Migration Studies of the University of Latvia, in the discussion "Is community-created content in the media a benefit for society?".

Scheduled for the week from September 30 to October 4

Monday, September 30

- A meeting of the CAL Office is held.

- A management meeting of the CAL Office will be held.

- CAL Director K. Zonberga will participate in the Ministry of Culture working group on the selection of the Public Integration Fund Council.

- CAL Director K. Zonberga will participate in a meeting on the SAM project of the Ministry of Culture. 

Wednesday, October 2

- A planning meeting will be held at the CAL Office for International Volunteers Day.

- CAL Director K. Zonberga will meet with the Ministry of Education and Science and the European Movement in Latvia on the e-voting initiative in schools and potential cooperation.

Thurdsay, October 3

- CAL Head of Adcocacy L. Putāne will attend the meeting of State Secretaries.

The information has been prepared with the financial support of the Society Integration Foundation from the Latvian state budget. The Civic Alliance - Latvia is responsible for the content of the information.