Policy Profile Latvia
Latvia is a member state of the European Union and is therefore required to implement all EU directives, laws, regulations and policies, including those related to heritage and culture.
The European Commission and European Parliament have Representation and Liaison Offices respectively in Riga. The Latvian Government has a Permanent Representation to the European Union in Brussels.
The Ministry of Culture is the centralised government authority for culture. In recent years, there has been increased cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education and Science for the dissemination of Latvian culture amongst the Latvian diaspora. The Ministry of Culture has various advisory bodies, such as the Council of Digital Cultural Heritage, and the National Board of Culture which holds a prominent position among the Ministry’s agencies. The Ministry also consults with non-governmental organisations to improve social dialogue on cultural matters.
Supervised by the Ministry of Culture, the National Cultural Heritage Board (Nacionālā kultūras mantojuma pārvalde) is responsible for implementing policies in the field of cultural heritage, particularly tangible cultural heritage. The State Culture Capital Foundation (Valsts kultūrkapitāla fonds) is responsible for the financing and promotion of cultural projects and the preservation and safeguarding of cultural heritage.
Other institutions, reporting into the Ministry of Culture, implement cultural policy in specific sectors, such as: the National Archives of Latvia; the National Film Centre of Latvia; the Centre for Culture Information Systems; the National Centre for Culture of Latvia, which is the body responsible for intangible cultural heritage. The Ministry of Culture is also responsible directly for libraries and museums.
Latvian municipalities support the Ministry of Culture for co-operation programmes and the financing of the cultural field in Latvia. They can develop their own cultural policies, and their independence concerning the content and character of the regions’ cultural life is gradually growing.
View all Latvia policies gathered so far
* = This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence