On 12 January, ALDE Party member Latvijas attīstībai (LA) in Latvia confirmed Ivars Ijabs MEP as its lead candidate for the European elections on 6-9 June.
Ijabs was elected to the European Parliament in May 2019 as the lead candidate of Attīstībai/Par!, the electoral alliance between ALDE Party members LA and Kustiba Par!, subsequently taking up a role as the party’s co-chair.
"20 years into the EU, we are no longer a new Member State, we need to take more responsibility for Europe as Latvia's rightful place. Latvia's voice is now very much needed in Europe, especially given what has happened in recent years,” said Ijabs.
“All the European elections so far have taken place in the light of crises, but today we are no longer talking about a crisis, rather about an existential threat to the Western world itself. We go to the elections with a clear, centrist, pro-European programme, with no room for deviation."
LA’s list for the European elections also include party co-chair Artis Pabriks, Latvia’s former Minister of Defence and MEP; Vyacheslavs Dombrovskis, Latvia’s former Minister for Education and Science and Minister of Economics; and Iveta Ratinīka, Member of the City Council of Latvia’s capital Riga.
The party identified its priorities for the European elections: turning the EU into a real security and defence union, securing enough EU funding for the rapid development of Latvia's national economy and supporting Ukraine in Putin’s war of aggression and European integration.
Photo: European Parliament