Май 22 2012

• Draft amendments complicating the procedure of the registration of children of non-citizens as citizens prepared by the Ministry of Justice
• Latvijas Avize: Saeima actively works on the draft law changing the existing order on initiation of national referendums

According to Vesti Segodnya, the Ministry of Justice has prepared draft amendments to the Citizenship Law which will complicate the procedure of the registration of children of non-citizens as citizens of Latvia. The Ministry of Justice proposes to apply the same rules to children of non-citizens as in relation to adult applicants for naturalisation, in particularly, to check whether they endanger national security. According to unofficial information, the Reform Party (previously  Zatlers’ Reform Party) categorically objects to such amendments.

According to Latvijas Avize, Saeima is actively working on the draft law changing the existing procedure on the initiation of national referenda. As reported, the draft law passed in the 2nd reading stipulates that in order to initiate a referendum, its initiators should gather 150,000 signatures of the eligible voters (at present, 10,000 signatures gathered by the initiators are required). The governing coalition parties would like to approve the draft law as soon as possible; however, opposition parties have submitted numerous proposals for the draft law. The Saeima Legal Office does not support such amendments as the increase in the number of required signatures would significantly complicate the enjoyment of citizens’ rights set in the Constitution. In the meantime, the organisation “For Equal Rights” continues the collection of signatures in support of the draft amendments granting all non-citizens Latvian citizenship. Thus far, it has collected about 4,000 signatures and the initiators hope to collect the required number by September.