Government will not consider Dombrava migration plan

The Latvian government will not consider Interior Minister Jānis Dombrava’s plan to restrict immigration because it has not been coordinated with 14 institutions, LSM reported on Tuesday. Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs said the government still supports tighter migration controls, but proposals must be legally sound and coordinated.

The Interior Ministry’s report on implementing the migration recommendations of a parliamentary investigative commission was submitted to the government system on Monday, about 90 minutes before a coalition meeting.

Coordination with several ministries and institutions affected by the proposed measures had not been completed. The document contains more than 70 measures covering the economy, education, employment, foreign policy, Latvia’s relations with the European Union and other policy areas.

“Some proposals also envisage changes to European Union regulations. The interior minister cannot make such decisions alone on behalf of another ministry or the entire Latvian state,” Kulbergs said.

He said the coalition had agreed on specific next steps to ensure that the document reaches the Cabinet as soon as possible and that the government can adopt measures that can actually be implemented.

“I fully support a stricter migration policy, but Latvia needs a migration policy that really works,” Kulbergs said.

The coordination report prepared for the Interior Ministry shows that ministries and social partners still have objections to several key proposals.

The State Chancellery said the report should not include conceptual migration policy issues that should instead be addressed in a policy-planning document.

The Economy Ministry objected to introducing a separate working-time registration system for third-country nationals, saying working hours are already regulated by the Labour Law and that a new system would create an additional administrative and financial burden for businesses.

The ministry also did not support a proposal to restrict third-country nationals’ ability to work as self-employed people.