• Saeima has adopted the Preamble to the Constitution of Latvia in the final reading

Yesterday, the Saeima has adopted the Introduction or Preamble to the Constitution of Latvia in the final reading. The Preamble was not supported only by the oppositional faction of the Concord Centre whose members believe that it is a step towards deepening of ethnic split in the society. The Preamble says that establishment of Latvian state was based upon the irrevocable will of the ethnic Latvian nation in order to guarantee existence and development of Latvian nation language, and culture through centuries. Latvijas Avize, Vesti Segodnya, Neatkariga

• Coalition of minority organisations loyal to the state is planning to apply for state funding managed by five intermediaries
• Representative of the State Language Centre drafts amendments to the Administrative Violations Code to fine municipalities for provision of information in other languages
• The Office for Citizenship and Migration Affairs presented the results of a survey of the reasons why the non-citizens are not applying for naturalisation

 

The Ministry of Culture selected five "intermediaries" who will manage 140,000 EUR allocated by the state to support non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Funding available for single project ranges from 1,500 to 3,000 EUR in different regions. 7,000 EUR in every region (35,000 EUR in total) will be available to minority NGOs for identity and cultural heritage preservation, support of folk culture groups, intercultural dialogue etc. The "Coalition of minority NGOs for political participation", which united 11 minority organisations loyal to the state, is planning to apply for the funding. The representative of the Center for Education Initiatives highlights that the Coalition is different from other minority NGOs, which for political purposes make noise about minority rights. Latvija Avize

 The Chair of the Language Control Department of the State Language Centre Antons Kursitis drafts amendments to the Administrative Violations Code in order to envision fines for those representatives of municipalities, who provide information also in foreign languages. Some municipalities with large share of Russian-speaking minority citizens distribute municipal newsletters in two languages – Latvian and Russian. Mr. Kursitis highlights that these amendments would stop provision of information in Russian and emphasises that the more concessions you make to an aggressive minority, the more aggressive it becomes. Latvija Avize

 The Office for Citizenship and Migration Affairs presented the results of a survey of the reasons why the non-citizens of Latvia are not applying for naturalisation. According to the survey, 22% believe they would not be able to pass the exams, 19% believe they deserve citizenship automatically (by registration), 17% are awaiting for the naturalisation exams to be eased, 14% are satisfied with the status of non-citizen, 13% mention the right to visa-free travel to Russia. As of January 2014, there were 282,876 persons in Latvia with the status of non-citizen. The biggest group of the noncitizens are 71 years old or older (23%). Vesti Segodnya

• Vesti Segodnya interviews director of the Riga 15th secondary school about education of foreign students

Vesti Segodnya interviews director of the Riga 15th secondary school Tatjana Kubasova about education of foreign students in the school. According to the director, there were 22 foreign students during 2013-2014 school year, but the first four foreign children entered the school four years ago. Mrs Kubasova says that families of foreign students come to Latvia due to different reasons – such as work, studies or in search for more secure and better life. The biggest difficulties educating foreign children teachers face if there is no intermediary language to communicate with them and there were cases when interpreter was invited. At first, foreign children attend individual classes on Russian or Latvian language and study for three-four hours the most basic issues. When the basic issues are mastered, foreign children join classes with the rest of the local students. According to the director, all foreign students who already graduated successfully passed the exams in Russian, Latvian and English languages. Some of the students continue to study in higher education establishments.

• Latvijas Avize reports about the Prime Minister’s  Report on Latvia’s National Security
• MP Boriss Cilevics: the EU has better mechanisms at monitoring human rights in the candidate states, than in member states

Latvijas Avize reports about the Report on Latvia’s National Security by the Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma. The report stresses Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine and its impact on security in Latvia. The report says that for Russia it is beneficial to show Latvia as ethnically divided, politically and economically weak country and it is expected that propaganda and discrediting campaigns against Latvia will increase.  The report also describes different actions aimed at consolidation of the society but without evaluation of the results.  

Vesti Segodnya publishes commentary of Latvian MP Boriss Cilevics following his participation at the OSCE conference on human rights defenders in Bern. According to Mr. Cilevics, in many OSCE countries human rights defenders are experiencing repressions. The EU has good mechanisms at monitoring human rights in the candidate states, yet once a country joins the Union, most of the monitoring stops and the EU has rather limited influence. In particular, the governments in Hungary, Greece and the Baltic states are trying to hinder and discredit the work of human rights defenders by using various tactics, such as accusations of financial violations, reports by the state security structures, labelling human rights activities as "anti-state".

• MEP form Latvia Tatjana Zdanoka: Crimea is a Russian revival

The MEP form Latvia Tatjana Zdanoka in an interview with TV channel LTV1 said that the case of Crimea is a Russian revival. Mrs Zdanoka also said that the Crimean case became possible because after the fall of the Soviet Union Russians residing in national republics became losers. According to Mrs Zdanoka, rights of Russian residents as ethnic minorities got infringed and Russian language was not granted status of official in the majority of the new states. Mrs Zdanoka also believes that Latvian could become a bridge between Russian and Western countries instead of choosing hostile rhetoric. Vesti Segodnya