Minister says eastern border emergency plan is preventive, not invasion warning

Latvia’s draft order on declaring a state of emergency in the country’s eastern border region is a preventive measure, not a warning of an imminent invasion, Climate and Energy Minister Jānis Vitenbergs said, according to LSM.

Vitenbergs told the LETA news agency that the measure is intended to ensure the continuity of critical services if an air threat occurs.

The Ministry of Climate and Energy stressed that the draft order does not itself declare a state of emergency. Instead, it sets out actions to be taken if one is declared in the eastern border region, with the aim of establishing clear rules for situations involving an air threat.

“The purpose of declaring a state of emergency is not linked to a forecast or assumption that Latvia is facing an invasion,” Vitenbergs said. He said the goal was to provide a clear legal framework for situations in which employees in critical sectors must continue working during an air-threat warning so that residents can retain access to essential services.

The proposed rules would help organise the work of services and companies whose functions are critical to public safety, healthcare and the uninterrupted operation of infrastructure until the legal framework is improved.

Vitenbergs said sectors including energy, water management and healthcare currently lacked sufficient regulation for situations in which an airspace-threat warning is issued, residents are told to seek shelter and limit movement, but certain employees must remain at work to maintain critical functions.

He said this creates risks for employees and legal uncertainty for employers. A special temporary framework is therefore needed to establish which employees must continue working and under what conditions, what safety requirements apply to them, and, when necessary, how to provide personal protective equipment and risk-related pay supplements.