The Cabinet of Ministers today, 1 November, approved the draft budget for 2024 for submission to the Saeima, identifying internal and external security as one of the country’s priorities. In the home affairs sector, additional funding will mainly be earmarked for increasing the remuneration of civil servants, strengthening the life-saving capacity of the State Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) structural units and developing a smart infrastructure for the eastern border.
In 2024, the increase in remuneration for home affairs officials with special ranks, started in 2023, will be continued. In 2024 and the following years, the budget allocates almost 24 million euros annually for this purpose. In addition, the budget for the coming year will provide 36.7 million euros for the allowance for officials for every five years of uninterrupted service.
Minister of the Interior Rihards Kozlovskis: “In the next 10 years, we need to count on substantial investments in the internal security of the country. Especially today, we see how our service officials risk their lives day in and day out to ensure the internal security of the country. Adequate remuneration for this work is therefore a priority for all of us. The additional funding for remuneration in the 2024 budget is only a starting point. My goal is to close the remuneration gap between the National Armed Forces and the Home Affairs services through the medium-term budget.”
In order to facilitate the fulfilment of the functions and core tasks of the SFRS as laid down in the legislation and not to have to decide on the temporary suspension of posts, an additional 2.6 million euros are foreseen for the service in the coming year and beyond.
Taking into account the hybrid war waged by Belarus on the Latvian – Belarusian border, additional funds will be allocated to reinforce the border by allocating 10.5 million euros to pay for the work intensity of the services on the eastern border and 25 million euros for the construction of the technological infrastructure of the eastern border. The technological infrastructure for the eastern border includes the installation of electronic communication networks, external utilities for electricity supply, presence detection systems and surveillance equipment, as well as data transmission and processing infrastructure and various sensors.
Another 1.5 million euros are planned in 2024 to strengthen national cyber defence capabilities and resilience to cyber attacks.
The 2024 budget provides additional funding for new educational programmes at the Internal Security Academy, as well as for access to care services for officials with special ranks. Also, in order to ensure uniform and effective enforcement of European Union sanctions, the budget plans to allocate 1.5 million euros – in 2024 and 1.4 million euros – in 2025 and beyond to centralize the enforcement system.
Prepared by:
Ministry of the Interior
Communication Department
kn@iem.gov.lv