Latvian MPs revisit audits of Saeima spending

Latvia’s parliament, the Saeima, will consider allowing the State Audit Office to audit its spending, LSM reported. On Thursday, MPs referred two similar amendment proposals from the Union of Greens and Farmers and the Progressives to parliamentary committees.

The Saeima is the only state institution not audited by the State Audit Office. The issue has been discussed for years, and similar proposals have been submitted several times, but no amendments have been adopted.

Two proposals

Both proposals would remove the existing exception and allow the State Audit Office to audit parliamentary spending. They differ in the scope of the audits and when the changes would take effect.

The Progressives propose financial, performance and compliance audits in the Saeima. This would allow checks not only on whether money was used and recorded lawfully, but also on whether spending was efficient and achieved its intended purpose. The changes would take effect at the beginning of next year.

The Union of Greens and Farmers proposes audits of the Saeima’s budget revenues and expenditure, as well as its handling of state property, to determine whether these actions were lawful and proper. The Saeima’s Public Expenditure and Audit Committee would remain responsible for assessing the efficiency of spending.

Under that proposal, the committee would review the State Audit Office’s report and issue an opinion to the Saeima Presidium. The changes would take effect when the 15th Saeima convenes.

The Saeima Legal Affairs Committee will be responsible for further work on the bills. Its chair, Andrejs Judins of New Unity, said he could not predict when the committee would consider them because it must address several other important issues before the elections.

Judins supports allowing the State Audit Office to audit the Saeima and said parliament should advance the issue. At the same time, he said the boundaries of the office’s powers must be clearly defined. It should not assess the merits of political decisions, such as the Saeima’s choice to build closer relations with a particular country, but it could examine parliamentary financial transactions, procurement and other administrative processes.