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Latvia to consider helping France in its war against IS: MP

Xinhua, November 20, 2015 Adjust font size:

Latvia will take a decision on how to help France combat Islamic State (IS) terrorist group upon analyzing possible threats to its own national security, Solvita Aboltina, chairwoman of the parliament national security committee, told reporters Thursday.

If France seeks specific support from Latvia, the parliament will have to be involved in taking that decision. "This will be debated on political level," Aboltina, the leader of Latvia's ruling center-right Unity party, told the press.

Stressing the importance of EU solidarity, Aboltina added that Latvia would also consider possible threats to its own security when deciding on support to France.

Members of the parliament national security committee on Thursday heard Latvian security agencies' reports on last Friday's terror attacks in Paris and asked representatives of the security police and the Constitution Protection Bureau to update them on the current security situation in Latvia.

Defense minister Raimonds Bergmanis, who also took part in the meeting of the national security committee, told lawmakers about his conversation with Stephane Visconti, the French Ambassador to Latvia, which took place earlier on Thursday.

"What was discussed is that this will not be assistance on the EU level, it will be bilateral assistance. The French ambassador could not yet specify what kind of assistance Latvia might be requested to provide," Aboltina said.

Earlier this week, French defense minister Jean-Yves Le Drian asked other EU member states for help with France's operations against IS in Syria and Iraq. France based its appeal on Article 42 in the EU treaties providing for solidarity among the bloc's members in case of an attack on one of them.

France is shoring up EU support in the wake of a series of coordinated shootings and explosions that were staged in Paris last Friday, at least 129 people and wounding more than 350. IS has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Endit