In 2003, Latvia was a small Baltic country located in Northern Europe, with a population of around 2.3 million people. Its capital and largest city was Riga. The official language was Latvian but Russian and other languages were spoken by minority populations. According to computergees, Latvia’s economy relied heavily on income from its services industry, manufacturing, agriculture, forestry and tourism as well as foreign aid from countries such as the United States and the European Union. This had resulted in a moderate standard of living for many Latvian citizens, although there were still pockets of poverty in some areas. Education levels were relatively high compared to other countries in the region, with a literacy rate around 99%. Healthcare access was also good due to government investment in medical services provided by foreign organizations.
Crime rates were low compared to other countries in the region, and there were no reports of political violence in 2003. The government at the time was led by Prime Minister Einars Repše who had been elected in 2002 and had implemented several economic reforms such as reducing tariffs on imports and introducing labor reforms. Latvia was a member of the European Union, which provided it with access to additional markets and resources. Despite its small size, Latvia maintained strong cultural ties to its neighbors including its unique cuisine as well as its rich history of literature, music and art forms such as traditional folk songs which have been passed down for centuries. The country also had a vibrant nightlife with a variety of nightclubs, bars and restaurants located throughout the capital city of Riga.
Yearbook 2003
Latvia. At the beginning of the year, Russian companies stopped delivering oil to the Baltic Baltic port of Ventspils. Transit trade in oil is one of L’s most important industries, and the missing deliveries during the year meant a major financial breakdown. It was speculated that the Russian giant company Transneft was trying to exert pressure to gain ownership control in Ventspils Nafta, which is the Baltic region’s largest oil transit company.
According to Countryaah.com, Latvia Independence Day is May 4. Latvia was part of the group of ten Eastern European countries, the SkVilnius Group, which in February stated its support for the US line against Iraq. The Left Opposition was critical of the government, saying that L. did not dare to pursue an independent foreign policy but followed the United States’ willful gratitude that L. 2004 should be admitted as a NATO member.
Ahead of the referendum on EU membership in September, the jasmine, which had all leading politicians as advocates, dominated. They warned that L. would be left alone with Russia and Belarus outside the EU, while the nez side claimed that the country would lose its sovereignty in the EU. Jasidan won the referendum by 67% against 32% for no.
Latvia became the last of the ten candidate countries to accept EU membership ahead of the 2004 enlargement of the Union. to share Eastern Europe among themselves in the infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop pact.
Half a million non-Letters – mainly Russians – lack citizenship and were not allowed to vote in the EU elections. But in the poor region of Latgale on the Russian border, where the proportion of Russian-speakers is high, there was no majority. Many Russians are afraid that contacts with family and friends in Russia will become more difficult when L. becomes an EU member.
As soon as the polling stations had closed, a latent government crisis broke out. Three of the four parties of the bourgeois government accused Prime Minister Einar Repse of imperial power and demanded that he resign. Repse refused, saying that the conflict was about some parties opposing his fight against corruption.
A few days earlier Parliament had rejected Repse’s candidate as head of the anti-corruption authority. President Vaira Vīke-Freiberga called on the government to keep Sami in order to ensure political stability in the period leading up to L’s EU entry in May 2004. After a period of talks, the four parties signed a new cooperation agreement.
At the October parliamentary elections, a referendum was also held. It resulted in a reduction in the Latvian requirements for citizenship in the country. The result was a softening of the stringent requirements that had been adopted in February. At the election, the People’s Party gained 21.2% of the vote, thus exceeding the Latvian Union, which gained 18.1%. Newly elected President Vaira Vike-Freiberga requested former Prime Minister Skele to head the new government.
In April 1999, a government commission proposed to pay US $ 2,000 to all the “non-Letters” who wanted to leave the country.
Three Russians were sentenced to 15 years in prison after threatening to blow up an 800-year-old church in Riga in protest of the country’s plans to join NATO. The verdict met with criticism in Moscow, claiming that a group of nationalist letters that had destroyed a Russian World War II monument had merely received mild punishments in Russia.
In June 2001, one week’s events were held in memory of the victims of Stalin’s deportations to Siberia, which touched 15,000 letters. The President emphasized the need to preserve the memory of deportations in fresh memory.
During the British prize Charles’ visit to Riga in November 2001, a woman “struck” him in the face with a flower. After her arrest, she declared that it was in protest against Latvia’s accession to NATO. The “attacker” declared that she was against the war against Afghanistan and that the real “enemy” was Britain.