• Citizens non-Latvians might be allowed to change their ethnicity to “ethnic Latvian”
• Riga Latvian Society organises free-of-charge courses for non-citizens

Latvijas Avize reports about draft amendments which allow ethnic non-Latvians to change a record in the Population Register about their ethnicity to “ethnic Latvian”. According to the draft amendments, Latvian citizen who has resided in Latvia permanently during the last 15 years, is proficient in Latvian language for the highest level, feels belonging to Latvian culture and wants to strengthen the Latvian nation publicly has the right to change his/her ethnicity to “ethnic Latvian.” Authors of the draft amendments – the MPs of the Unity and the Reforms’ Party – believe ethnic identity of a person forms trough education and upbringing process, therefore a person who feels belonging to ethnic Latvian nation should have such option to change his/her officially registered ethnicity. The draft amendments do not envisage the option to register his/her minority ethnicity on the basis of self-identification. At present, Latvian residents are able to change one’s ethnicity based only on ethnic origin of relatives within two generations.

The Riga Latvian Society organises free-of-charge courses for Latvian non-citizens with an aim to prepare them for naturalisation. The courses include learning of Latvian language, learning about Latvian culture and other issues which could help to pass the naturalisation test successfully. Vesti Segodnya

• Representatives of the Congress of Non-citizens are planning to conduct the alternative elections on 1 June 2013
• Senate of the Supreme Court forwarded a case on referendum on non-citizens to the Constitutional Court
• Society Integration Foundation announced a grant application for projects on exchange of children among ethnic Latvian and Russian families

Representatives of the Congress of Non-citizens are planning to conduct the alternative elections at the same day with the municipal elections on 1 June 2013. All Latvian residents regardless of their citizenship status are called to participate the alternative elections with an aim to choose an alternative parliament representing Latvian non-citizens. It is planned that the parliament of non-citizens will express opinion of non-citizens with an aim to liquidate non-citizenship in Latvia. Vesti Segodnya

The Senate of the Supreme Court suspended proceedings on a case on referendum on non-citizens and asked the Constitutional Court to evaluate it. As reported, in November 2012, the Central Elections Committee (CEC) refused to conduct state funded collection of signatures in support of referendum on granting Latvian citizenship to non-citizens despite the fact that the required number of signatures of Latvian citizens was collected. The CEC argued that the draft law is not fully developed and contradicts the Latvian Constitution and Declaration of Latvian independence. The initiators of the referendum appealed the decision arguing the CEC exceeded its authority. The Senate of the Supreme Court asked the Constitutional Court to evaluate whether the draft amendments proposed for referendum correspond to Latvian Constitution. Latvijas Avize, Vesti Segodnya

The Society Integration Foundation announced a grant application for projects on exchange of children among ethnic Latvian and Russian families with an aim to promote integration. The same projects were implemented in 2012. Vesti Segodnya

• MEP Krisjanis Karins: state funded education should be only in Latvian language
• Ministry of Culture will summarize and analyse activities aimed at consolidation of the society during the past year

The MEP form Latvia Krisjanis Karins believes the state funded education in Latvia should be only in Latvian language. According to Mr Karins: “we (ethnic Latvians) have out nation, our independent state and we should defend education system in Latvian language. If someone wants to study in other language can do it for money.” Mr Karins also believes that Russian speaking residents can learn Russian language at home but in schools they should study in Latvian. Vesti Segodnya

According to the Prime Minister’s Valdis Dombrovskis’ report on national security to the Saeima, the referendum on the status of Russian language conducted in February 2012, has split the society and negatively impacted sense of belonging to the state. After the referendum and following the adoption of the national integration plan, the government granted funding for implementation of various activities aimed at consolidation of the society. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the activities, the Ministry of Culture is planning to summarize and analyse all the activities conducted by various institutions during the past year. Latvijas Avize

• 40,000 Russian citizens reside in Latvia
• SKDS: popularity of “Lindermans’ Party - For Native Language” grows

According to the data of the Russia’s Embassy, about 40,000 Russian citizens reside in Latvia. 31,000 of those are pensioners. The biggest demand for Russian citizenship among Latvian residents was in 2010 – about 5,000 persons applied for citizenship. Most likely it was connected to the economic crisis in Latvia. Vesti Segodnya, Latvijas Avize

According to a public opinion research agency SKDS, popularity of “Lindermans’ Party - For Native Language” grows. In January, 4% of respondents could vote for the party in municipal election in June. 3% of respondents support the party among Riga residents and 11% residents of Latgale region (eastern part of Latvia). As reported, the main party’s ideology is aimed at granting Russian language status of official language in Latvia and status of autonomy to the Latgale region. Vesti Segodnya

• 14th anniversary of the Russian House in Riga

Vesti Segodnya reports about 14th anniversary of the Russian House in Riga. The Russian House hosts about 70 various cultural organisations. According to the head of the House, Ukrainian and Belarusian organisations also joined it recently, thus the House became the centre of Slavic social life and culture in the city.