On Wednesday, 9 October, during the regional visit Janis Bordans, the Minister of Justice, met with representatives of the Liepaja Council and judges of Kurzeme Region Court, in order to discuss current events in the area of justice.
During the meeting the management of the Council introduced the minister and representatives of the ministry of Justice with the development trends in the town and social and economical situation in Liepaja, and current events of the port, airport, development of industry and entrepreneurship. The issue of the regional reform, challenges in the development of the city, attraction of investors, development of entrepreneurship and infrastructure of the city was discussed during the meeting.
During the discussion with representatives of the Council the Minister of Justice emphasized: “We are aware also on our role in the development of the city, for example, building of a new prison will increase not only the public safety and ensure appropriate environment for execution of punishment, but will also positively impact the infrastructure and logistics of Liepaja City, as well as provide new work places for inhabitants of the city and region. But the most important duty of us is to ensure stable and safe for investments the technical environment - both in the specific region as well as in the country in general. We have to think about development of the country on the long-term perspective.”
Within the framework of the regional visit the minister met also with judges of Kurzeme Regional Court and Kurzeme District Court. During the discussion with judges the Minister of Justice J.Bordans mentioned effective work of courts as a priority, emphasizing the meaning of professional qualification of judges, as well as the role of the special court for promotion of the economical growth of the country.
“Current specialisation in courts has been fruitful. Experience shows that these steps have been the correct ones, but the current model is fragmented and has reached the top of its development. Currently keeping the advantages of this system, we move forwards - concentrating the judges specialising in specific cases in one place. It is important to maintain synergy. At the same time the Court of Economic Cases would unburden other courts from these specific cases, enabling to develop the current specialisations. Taking into account the fact that the Court of Economic Cases is actually created without any funding, nothing will be taken away from other judicial priorities. In turn, I see the establishment of the Court of Economic Cases and its efficient operation as a basis for further financial investments into the system,” indicated the minister.
The minister also mentioned that as a result of persistence and efforts of the Ministry of Justice, a possibility has been found to continue the reform of salaries of judicial employees, increasing salaries up to 85% from the maximum of the scale determined for the relevant group.
“Our priority is to invest into professional development”, emphasized the minister, asking the chairpersons of courts to review the previous work organization processes, to make them more efficient and to transfer the savings made for motivation of the most professional employees.