Jūn 29 2012

• President of Latvia Andris Berzins did not promulgate the draft amendments on changing referendum initiation procedure
• Newspapers report about the visit of the U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to Latvia

The President of Latvia Andris Berzins did not proclaim the draft amendments to the Law on National Referenda and Legislative Initiatives stipulating that initiators of a referendum should gather about 150,000 signatures of the voters. The President returned the draft amendments to the Saeima for revision. The President generally positively evaluated the idea to change the existing system of two-stage procedure for the initiation of the referendum, however he expressed concern that conditions of the collection of signatures which require large financial investments may increase the role of money in politics and deprive the civil society of opportunity to organise oneself and be active. At present, the initiators of referendum are required to collect 10,000 signatures in order to proceed with the second stage – state funded collection of signatures. Chas, Diena

Newspapers report about the visit of the U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to Latvia. Regarding the issue of the restitution of Jewish properties, Mrs Clinton stated that the United States supports the restitution and the resolution of this issue is of joint interest. The Secretary of State also called upon Latvian authorities to promote the integration of Russian speaking residents in Latvia to foster their sense of belonging to the Latvian nation.  Chas, Diena