Saeima speaker: Government confused on refugees

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According to the Speaker of Saeima Ināra Mūrniece (National Alliance), the government has not sufficiently explained the decision about admitting refugees and acts like an ostrich with its head in the sand, not answering important questions. Mūrniece voiced concerns over refugee politics in an interview to Latvian Television Thursday morning, saying that the government "has not done its homework".

"I don't want to point fingers, but at European level talks [about the matter], both PM Laimdota Straujuma and Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis were present," said Mūrniece.

She thinks that the admission of refugees has a number of points that cannot be answered not only by the state, but also the EU itself. She said that it'd be a mistake to admit migrants without analyzing the situation, and distributing them on the Old World does not solve any problems in the migrants' home countries.

"We cannot resettle half of Africa in Europe and hope that the situation will be solved," said the Speaker of the Saeima.

The Latvian government at an extraordinary meeting in early July agreed that over two years Latvia would voluntary admit 250 refugees from Africa who need to be relocated within the EU. The Ministries of Interior, Welfare, Culture and Environmental Protection and Regional Development in collaboration with local authorities will have to work out a policy for their integration.

At a meeting Monday, EU ministers agreed to accept 32,000 refugees, mainly from war-torn Syria. the target fell short of the 40,000 figure previously agreed.

Of that figure, Latvia agreed to take 50 for "resettlement" and 200 for "relocation".

There have been heated debates within and without the coalition about the refugee matter, and MPs from National Alliance, along with several public organizations, have announced plans to picket against settling refugees.

The picket will take place on August 4, though ministers of National Alliance have announced that they will not be participating in the picket.

Interior Minister Kozlovskis has said that the first refugees will arrive in winter.

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