Latvia: “We should stand strongly together and support each other as much as we can”

This chapter presents Latvia, a Baltic member state of the European Union (EU), and a net recipient from the EU budget with prospects of becoming a net payer. The chapter starts with a general introduction to Latvia and the country’s path to EU membership. It further gives a compact overview of Latvia’s political system and key figures on its population and economy. The chapter continues with key highlights of political and public debates in Latvia about European integration. The substantive third section of the chapter outlines the common patterns that emerged in the focus group discussions in Latvia, particularly across the discussed scenarios presented to the participants and also between and within the three sociodemographic groups. The findings show that, overall, the Latvian participants acknowledged the benefits of EU membership and perceived solidarity as a shared commitment and responsibility of those belonging to the EU. However, there was a shared doubt about the country’s capabilities to help others hit by a crisis.