Current social policy in Latvia is shaped without a clear idea of what consumption should be like to meet the needs of the population at a minimum level (including by social groups). There is also no justification for what the minimum wage, pension, benefits and other social payments should be like. Such information is usually provided by the regulatory subsistence minimum consumption budget, which has not been calculated in Latvia since 2014. Currently, the subsistence minimum basket that is being developed by the Ministry of Welfare is prepared according to the relative method, by linking the percentage of consumption to the average values, but as a result it does not provide a justification for the subsistence minimum.
 

EAPN-Latvia believes that the pension system should be reviewed because the current pension system creates a risk that future pensioners will receive a pension that is insufficient for the pensioner’s subsistence minimum level.
 

EAPN-Latvia advocates the complex improvement of the health care system, which would ensure a more efficient use of the health care sector’s infrastructure and of the existing resources. EAPN-Latvia advocates the use of all available funds for the eradication of poverty and inequality, including the European Recovery Fund resources. In our opinion, currently too few resources are earmarked for reducing inequalities (20% of the amount of the Latvian Recovery Fund plan) and the emphasis is mostly placed on reducing territorial inequalities (but not so much on reducing social inequalities).

Main Findings Main priorities

Access to housing: – available mortgage loans – creation of social houses – changes in taxes and other payments

Employment: – labour force forecasts – job creation by local governments

Changes in the tax system – develop tax system that ensures stability – transparency of each tax – tax revenues increased based on GDP

Access to the health care system – a basket of paid & free medical services – control the prices of medicines