Political Risk:
Very Low
Score:
85/100
Defence and Security Policy and Policy Transparency
Q1
83/100
Is there formal provision for effective and independent legislative scrutiny of defence policy?
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The Parliament (Saeima) has full formal rights to approve, revise and veto laws and strategic documents related to defence policy, as well as the…
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The Parliament is largely effective in determining the defence policy by approving and revising laws, strategic documents and the budget. It regularly adopts and…
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Neither the executive branch, nor the military coerce or unduly influence Parliament to vote in its favour, but the Parliament does not tend to…
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Q2
100/100
Does the country have an identifiable and effective parliamentary defence and security committee (or similar such organisations) to exercise oversight?
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The Committee for Defence, Interior and Coruption Prevention is a standing committee in charge of the legislation process in the spheres of national security,…
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Members of the Committee of the present Parliament are experienced in security and defence matters. One of the members is the former minister of…
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The National Security Law tasks the Parliament with approving both a new National Security Concept and State Defence Concept at least every term of…
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Normally, the committee meets twice a week and discusses a wide range of issues, both legislative (discusses and prepares draft legal acts and policy…
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The Committee invites ministries and other institutions to report on specific issues, as well as organising on-site meetings. Most of the major issues falling…
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The Ministry of Defence operates according to the laws adopted by the Parliament [1]. Above all, the Parliament approves the Cabinet of Ministers, including…
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Q3
81/100
Is the country’s national defence policy or national security strategy debated and publicly available?
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National defence and security policy and strategies are publicly available and widely debated by the Parliament, government, as well as in public, given the…
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Discussion of the defence policy and security strategy focuses primarily on major threats (Russia) and the level of defence spending (as a reaction to…
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Public consultations take place at both parliamentary and ministerial level. Since the Deputy Prime Minister is also the Minister of Defence, the defence and…
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Draft legal acts and policy planning documents are usually availabe to the public well in advance, on the websites of the Ministry of Defence,…
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Q4
100/100
Do defence and security institutions have a policy, or evidence, of openness towards civil society organisations (CSOs) when dealing with issues of corruption?
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According to the Information Transparency Law, the public has access to information that is at the disposal of the institution. This law establishes a…
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According to the law “About Public organizations and their associations”, CSOs have the right to perform public activities that are not in conflict with…
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In practice, and in comparison with other sectors, the cooperation is good. But sometimes it is necessary to ask twice or more. Also, the…
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Q5
88/100
Has the country signed up to the following international anti-corruption instruments: UNCAC and the OECD Convention?
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Latvia is not a significant defence exporter. [1] It signed the UNCAC Convention on May 19, 2005, and ratified it on January 4, 2006.…
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The latest Review of implementation of the UNCAC available (2014) identified both successes and good practices, as well as challenges in the implementation of…
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Q6
88/100
Is there evidence of regular, active public debate on issues of defence? If yes, does the government participate in this debate?
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Q7
100/100
Does the country have an openly stated and effectively implemented anti-corruption policy for the defence sector?
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There is a organisational anti-corruption plan in the Ministry of Defence and its subordinate institutions. [1] However, the anti-coruption policy cannot be found on…
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The MOD regularly provides information to the KNAB in the form of reports on the implementation of the tasks specified in the Guidelines for…
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Q8
83/100
Are there independent, well-resourced, and effective institutions within defence and security tasked with building integrity and countering corruption?
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The MOD has established the Audit and Inspection Department (AID), which ensures integrity and is responsible for the implementation of anti-corruption measures. The MOD…
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Such institutions as KNAB [1] and the State Audit [2] are independent and well-resourced. They report directly to the Defence, Internal Affairs and Corruption…
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Since the main institutions tasked with building integrity and countering corruption (as indicated in Q8A) are KNAB and the State Audit, their performance has…
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Q9
NS/100
Does the public trust the institutions of defence and security to tackle the issue of bribery and corruption in their establishments?
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This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. There is no empirical data to test if the public particularly trusts the institutions…
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Q10
100/100
Are there regular assessments of the areas of greatest corruption risk for ministry and armed forces personnel, and are the findings used as inputs to the anti-corruption policy?
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The MOD fulfils the tasks mentioned in the KNAB anti-corruption guidelines. The MOD has started using the International Risk Assessment Tool, implementing the recommendations…
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Each year, according to the anti-corruption plan, the responsible institutions such as the MOD carry out corruption risk assessments and an anti-corruption plan is…
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Regular assessments of defence sector corruption risks are carried out at various levels, and risks are annually identified and dealt with. The MOD also…
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Defence Budgets
Q11
58/100
Does the country have a process for acquisition planning that involves clear oversight, and is it publicly available?
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There is a clear formal process in place for the entire acquisition planning cycle. The legal framework is defined in the Law on public…
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Often, major arms procurement decisions via government-to-government (G2G) contracts, are announced post-factum, e.g. the decision to procure CVR(T)s in 2014, M109 155mm self-propelled howitzers…
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External oversight functions are carried out by the State Audit Office, for whom one of the points of working interest in the defence sector…
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Q12
100/100
Is the defence budget transparent, showing key items of expenditure? And it is provided to the legislature in a timely fashion?
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The general defence budget, including what is allocated to the defence sector, is openly available and gives a full picture of the key categories…
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The parliament receives an accurate defence budget proposal in sufficient time before the next financial year begins (e.g. in 2017, the Cabinet of Ministers…
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Q13
75/100
Is there a legislative committee (or other appropriate body) responsible for defence budget scrutiny and analysis in an effective way?
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The Budget and Finance (Taxation) Committee is the main sub-institution of the parliament with regards to drafting the state budget (the Public Expenditure and…
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The Budget and Finance committee is the responsible Committee for budget readings in Parlament. Additionally, both Committee for Defence, Internal Affairs and Corruption Prevention…
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Q14
100/100
Is the approved defence budget made publicly available? In practice, can citizens, civil society, and the media obtain detailed information on the defence budget?
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The general defence budget is openly availalable and gives a full picture of the key categories of defence expenditure (e.g. the state budget for…
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The general defence budget is openly availalable and gives a full picture of the key categories of defence expenditure (e.g. the state budget for…
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As long as the information does not concern objective national security reasons, individuals, the media, companies and non-governmental organizations are entitled by law to…
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Q15
100/100
Are sources of defence income other than from central government allocation (from equipment sales or property disposal, for example) published and scrutinised?
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There is a full annual publication of all expected sources (e.g. utilisation of real estate, services provided in geospatial issues) and amounts to be…
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Mechanisms of scrutiny are in place and administered by the Audit and Inspection Department of the Ministry of Defence, as well as by the…
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Given the limited amount of income of this sort (approximately 0,31% of the total defence budget for 2018), [1, 3] is has not been…
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Q16
81/100
Is there an effective internal audit process for defence ministry expenditure (that is, for example, transparent, conducted by appropriately skilled individuals, and subject to parliamentary oversight)?
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The external auditor, the State Audit Office, has a good and effective cooperation with the Internal Audit Department and Inspection Department of the Ministry…
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The external auditor, the State Audit Office, has a good and effective cooperation with the Internal Audit Department and Inspection Department of the Ministry…
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The external auditor, the State Audit Office, has a good and effective cooperation with the Internal Audit Department and Inspection Department of the Ministry…
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The external auditor, the State Audit Office, has a good and effective cooperation with the Internal Audit Department and Inspection Department of the Ministry…
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Q17
88/100
Is there effective and transparent external auditing of military defence expenditure?
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The State Audit Office has an extensive mandate to review the defence sector, which it regularly executes with regards to defence sector spending and…
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The State Audit Office is an independent institution and, as the law according to which it operates states, “it is accountable only to the…
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Reports of the external audits are published online proactively. They are detailed and comprehensive. Audits since 2001 are available on the website of the…
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As underlined by the State Audit Office, the Ministry of Defence is cooperative and regularly addresses audit findings in its practices. However, this does…
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Nexus of Defence and National Assets
Q18
100/100
Is there evidence that the country’s defence institutions have controlling or financial interests in businesses associated with the country’s natural resource exploitation and, if so, are these interests publicly stated and subject to scrutiny?
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The Ministry of Defence must comply with all laws regarding natural resources exploitation and nature protection [1] [2]. None of the relevant laws has…
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There are no cases of defence institutions involvement in businesses relating to the country’s natural resource exploitation [1].
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There is no evidence of individual defence personnel involvement in businesses relating to the country’s natural resource exploitation. It must be noted that there…
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This indicator is marked Not Applicable as there are no natural resources in the country of interest to defence industry.
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This indicator is marked Not Applicable as there are no natural resources in the country of interest to defence industry.
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Organised Crime
Q19
100/100
Is there evidence, for example through media investigations or prosecution reports, of a penetration of organised crime into the defence and security sector? If no, is there evidence that the government is alert and prepared for this risk?
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There have been no reports of military involvement in sectors in which organised crime operates. Therefore, this risk is very low. This was confirmed…
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The government is well aware of the risks posed by the organised crime. It has adopted a Plan for preventing and combating organised crime…
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Q20
100/100
Is there policing to investigate corruption and organised crime within the defence services and is there evidence of the effectiveness of this policing?
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The KNAB or the CCPB is the main government institution charged with investigating serious crimes, which it has done with success recognised in international…
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KNAB is an independent public administration institution under the supervision of the Cabinet of Ministers. The supervision is executed by the Prime Minister. It…
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The KNAB or the CCPB is the main government institution charged with investigating serious crimes, which it has done with success recognised in international…
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Control of Intelligence Services
Q21
63/100
Are the policies, administration, and budgets of the intelligence services subject to effective and independent oversight?
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There are three intelligence services in Latvia: the Security Police (DP), Constitution Protection Bureau (SAB) and Defence Intelligence and Security Service (MIDD). They operate…
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The committee of the 13.Saima is comprised of 6 members – one from each political group of the parliament. 5 of them have served…
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Q22
67/100
Are senior positions within the intelligence services filled on the basis of objective selection criteria, and are appointees subject to investigation of their suitability and prior conduct?
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There are three intelligence services in Latvia: the Security Police (DP), Constitution Protection Bureau (SAB) and Defence Intelligence and Security Service (MIDD). They operate…
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There have been no reports of interventions by third parties in the selection process, and the director of the SAB and the chief of…
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The director of the SAB is appointed by the Parliament for a term of 5 years based on the proposal of the National Security…
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Export Controls
Q23
100/100
Does the government have a well-scrutinised process for arms export decisions that aligns with Articles 7.1.iv, 11.5, and 15.6 of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT)?
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Latvia signed and ratified the ATT on April 2, 2014. [1]
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Latvia has openly submitted available annual compliance reports since 2015. [1] There is no evidence to show that Latvia does not comply with any…
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This indicator is marked Not Applicable as Latvia is not a significant arms exporter and thus the Parliament does not debate arms exports.
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Lobbying in Defence
There is no legislation regulating lobbying generally and thus also no legislation regulating lobbying in defence institutions. KNAB submitted a draft Lobbying openness law…
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This indicator is marked Not Applicable as there is no legislation regulating lobbying generally and thus also no legislation regulating lobbying in defence institutions.
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This indicator is marked Not Applicable as there is no legislation regulating lobbying generally and thus also no legislation regulating lobbying in defence institutions.
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This indicator is marked Not Applicable as there is no legislation regulating lobbying generally and thus also no legislation regulating lobbying in defence institutions.
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