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DE RUEHRA #0086/01 0311459
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P 311459Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY RIGA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3739
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RIGA 000086 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/31/2012 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PBTS PHUM RS LG
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S MEETING WITH SPEAKER EMSIS 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Catherine Todd Bailey.  Reason: 1.4 (D) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: Saeima speaker Indulis Emsis was optimistic 
that legislation authorizing the government to sign the 
border treaty with Russia would pass on February 1, but was 
skeptical that nationalist party Fatherland and Freedom could 
remain in the coalition after its opposition to this 
legislation.  He was unwilling to discuss candidates for 
President, saying that public debate would only tarnish the 
reputation of the eventual winner and the coalition will make 
the choice.  Despite prodding from the Ambassador, Emsis was 
strongly opposed to proposed legislation on restitution of 
Holocaust-era Jewish communal and heirless private property, 
suggesting that moving forward would only increase 
anti-Semitism in Latvia.  He welcomed upcoming Embassy 
initiatives on energy and judicial issues and praised 
President Bush's recent comments on energy issues.  End 
summary. 
 
¶2. (U) Ambassador Bailey met January 30 with Speaker of 
Saeima (parliament) Indulis Emsis.  Emsis was joined by his 
political advisor, Viesturs Silenieks and pol/econ chief 
accompanied Ambassador.  Emsis, head of the green part of the 
Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS), previously served as Prime 
Minister in 2004 and was most recently chair of the national 
security committee of parliament.  Emsis is able to carry on 
a conversation in English, but he sometimes has difficulty 
communicating or understanding nuance or technical points. 
For the first time in a meeting with the Ambassador, he had 
an interpreter (a perk available in his current position) 
although he used her only a fraction of the time, mainly to 
translate his remarks. 
 
¶3. (C) Emsis predicted that the legislation to authorize the 
government to sign the border treaty would pass parliament on 
February 1 with about 60 votes.  He said it was important 
that there be a full discussion in parliament of this issue 
and cautioned that the harder vote would be to pass the 
legislation on an urgent basis (which would allow passage of 
the bill in two vice three readings and reduce opportunities 
for amendments).  Politically, he said, signing and eventual 
ratification of the border treaty would remove a key plank of 
ultra-nationalist parties in Latvia.  In response to the 
Ambassador's question, Emsis predicted a challenge in the 
constitutional court to the treaty but would not speculate on 
its outcome. 
 
¶4. (C) Looking ahead to the selection of a new president this 
summer, Emsis said we should expect very little public 
discussion.  Past experience had shown that getting names of 
candidates out early only provided opportunities to attack 
them in the press and damage their reputations.  In contrast 
to his call for openness on the border treaty, he said on 
presidential selection that "the coalition will decide and 
finito." 
 
¶5. (C) Emsis opined that nationalist Fatherland and Freedom 
(TB) was not behaving as a good coalition partner, while the 
other three members, ZZS, People's Party (TP) and First Party 
(LPP), who control 51 seats between them, worked well 
together since their days as a minority government prior to 
elections.  TB was not being helpful on the border treaty and 
threatening to introduce amendments that would be 
unacceptable to Russia and end any chance of getting the 
treaty signed.  They also regularly introduced legislation to 
remove local government officials who did not have fluent 
Latvian language skills.  Emsis said this was impractical and 
unfair to populations in certain areas of the country where 
Latvian is the second language.  It is one thing to disagree 
within government or even to abstain on certain issues, but 
to actively oppose was not proper for a party with 
ministerial responsibilities.  TB needed to decide if it is 
an opposition party or a part of government.  (Comment: Emsis 
isn't the only member of the coalition we've heard talk like 
this about TB recently, but the current parliamentary math 
complicates the timing and arrangements of any change in 
government.  End comment.) 
 
¶6. (C) Ambassador Bailey asked when the issue of restitution 
of Holocaust-era Jewish communal and heirless private 
property might come back to the parliament after it was 
rejected on a procedural motion in November.  Emsis was 
categorical in rejecting the deal that had been negotiated 
between the government and the Jewish community.  He said 
there could be no special treatment for any one group and 
claimed that he feared that passing the legislation that had 
been proposed would actually increase anti-Semitism in Latvia 
by providing special treatment for the Jewish community.  He 
also claimed that a former colleague from the independence 
movement, herself a Jew, did not support the draft 
legislation and viewed it as divisive.  Emsis said that 
perhaps the Jewish community needed better internal 
coordination on this issue.  (Comment: The individual he 
 
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cited is indeed Jewish, but not an active member of the 
Jewish community here, which remains supportive of the deal 
negotiated last year.  End comment.)  Ambassador Bailey 
pushed back hard, noting that the proposal rejected by the 
parliament had been under discussion for a long time and it 
was facetious to claim it was all new.  She urged the Speaker 
to bring the issue back for a thorough discussion in the 
Saeima and to respect the length of discussion on this issue. 
 
¶7. (U) The Ambassador also briefed the Speaker on upcoming 
Embassy activities in the areas of energy and judicial 
affairs.  He pledged his active support for both events.  On 
energy, Emsis said that Latvia needed a serious discussion of 
conservation and renewable sources of energy as it faced for 
the first time serious questions about the stability of its 
energy supplies.  He applauded President Bush's initiatives 
on energy announced in the State of the Union address. 
 
¶8. (U) Emsis accepted the Ambassador's invitation to join her 
in a visit to the military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, 
where a Latvian solider injured in Iraq was undergoing 
treatment and rehabilitation following the amputation of his 
foot and provision of a prosthetic device. 
BAILEY