RIGA, May 5 (LETA) - A law on the development of the eastern border territory would be necessary to ensure regional growth and attract investment, the authors of the bill from the region's municipalities said on Tuesday at a meeting of a parliament subcommittee. The idea is to enshrine various financial support for the region in a special law.

Aldis Adamovics (Latgale Party/New Unity/For Latvia's Development), Chairman of the Development Council of the Latgale Planning Region, Chairman of the Preili Municipal Council, believes that such a law would be necessary as a legal framework for attracting investments, because Latgale is a loser in this area, as well as in demography. He urged the Smart Administration and Regional Development Ministry or MPs to push the bill to the Saeima for consideration.

Vitalijs Aizbalts (Latgale Party), chairman of the Augsdaugava Municipal Council, also sees a different situation in Latgale from the rest of Latvia. He said that the municipality has faced a situation where an investor from Germany, offered a property with infrastructure, could have agreed and started work in the municipality, but was afraid that the municipality was "too close to the border".

One of the authors of the bill, Agris Bitans, chairman of the Latgale Congress Decision Implementation Council, said at the meeting that the common security of the European Union (EU) is directly linked to the strength, resilience and stability of the eastern regions bordering Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. He stressed that Russia and Belarus pose hybrid threats, use migration as a weapon and disrupt radio frequencies. There have also been cases of violations of airspace and other unwanted actions by neighboring countries.

The bill basically provides for a specific policy of state support in attracting business and investment, access to social care and health services, civil protection and other areas. The authors of the bill also intend to stipulate that the state should allocate long-term budgetary funding to border municipalities for the performance of their basic functions.

The aim of the bill is "to strengthen the external security of Latvia and the EU by developing the legal capacity of the Eastern border municipalities to ensure regional growth and attract investment, increasing the resilience and well-being of the population, as well as to create a legal framework for targeted and long-term attraction of investment for the development of the border area".

The eastern border lands is the territory of Latvia along the EU's external border with Russia and Belarus, which includes the municipalities of the Latgale planning region and the Aluksne municipality.

The law is to establish a special legal status for the border area in order to strengthen national security, ensure socio-economic development and support the region's population and social resilience.