Minister of Welfare Uldis Augulis visited the Latvian Olympic Team (LOV) on Wednesday, January 24 and met with LOV board member Daniēla Nātriņa. During the meeting, the current issue of social guarantees for LOV athletes was addressed, taking into account that LOV athletes and coaches currently receive benefits that do not constitute social guarantee contributions. At the same time, the issue of applying the exception provided by the law “On state social insurance” to professional athletes and its compliance with the requirements of the industry was discussed.
Minister of Welfare Uldis Augulis emphasizes that “together with the Ministry of Education and Science, the necessary legislative initiatives in the new version of the Sports Law must be developed more actively in order to organize the social protection of athletes and stimulate athletes to do a decision to take care of their social protection in good time”.
Before the gda, 243 professional athletes were registered, but none of them had voluntarily joined the pension insurance. Article 19 of the Sports Law establishes that a professional athlete is a natural person who prepares and participates in sports competitions on the basis of an employment contract and for an agreed remuneration. A professional athlete is an employee and is subject to mandatory state social security contributions (VSAOI), which from 1 January 2020 amount to 860 euros.
Furthermore, during the meeting, the accessibility of Paralympic athletes and people with special needs to sports infrastructure in national sports bases and possible next steps to solve this problem were discussed.
Minister of Welfare Uldis Augulis expressed hope that LOV will continue to successfully promote the preparation of the best Latvian athletes for the Olympic Games and develop the provision of sports medicine services to an increasingly higher level.
The Ministry of Welfare
2024-01-24 10:03:24
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