The European Commission has adopted its Opinion on the updated Draft Budgetary Plan of Latvia. The Opinion issued on 6 March finds the updated Plan for 2019 to be broadly compliant with the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact. Nonetheless, the Commission has encouraged the Latvian authorities to accelerate progress on the structural part of the fiscal recommendations addressed to them by the Council last July. Following general elections on 6 October 2018, a new government took office in Latvia on 23 January 2019 and submitted an updated Draft Budgetary Plan for 2019 on 19 February 2019. It updates the no-policy change Draft Budgetary Plan by the outgoing government from 15 October 2018. Latvia is currently subject to the preventive arm of the Stability and Growth Pact.