• Linguist Iveta Porina: transition of all state funded schools only into Latvian language would promote concord in the society

Linguist Iveta Porina in an interview with

Linguist Iveta Porina in an interview with Latvijas Avize states that transition of all state funded schools only into Latvian language would promote concord in the society and strengthen state language as a common foundation of the society. Mrs Porina believes that existence of ethnic Latvians is endangered and one of the ways how to protect it is change of education policy. As reported, collection of signatures for support of the Constitutional amendments foreseeing state funded primary and secondary education only in the state language ends on 9 June and up to now 50,204 of required 153,232 signatures are collected.

• Nationalists actively call Latvian citizens to sign for support of transition of all schools into Latvian language
• Newspapers reports about closure of the Days of Russian Culture in Latvia

Vesti Segodnya reports that nationalists actively call Latvian citizens to sign for support of the Constitutional amendments foreseeing state funded primary and secondary education solely in the state language. The collection of signatures will end on 9 June. 41,770 signatures are collected up to this day. In total 153,232 signatures are required for the amendments to be reviewed by the Saeima.

Newspapers reports about closure of the Days of Russian Culture in Latvia. During the Days of Russian Culture various events were held in Riga and other Latvian cities. Organisers of the festivity wanted to revive the tradition which existed during the first Latvian independence in 1920ies -1930ies to celebrate the Days of Russian Culture in May and June.

Newspapers reports about closure of the Days of Russian Culture in Latvia. During the Days of Russian Culture various events were held in Riga and other Latvian cities. Organisers of the festivity wanted to revive the tradition which existed during the first Latvian independence in 1920ies -1930ies to celebrate the Days of Russian Culture in May and June. Chas, Vesti Segodnya

• Telegraf reports a story of an asylum seeker from Nigeria
• Comparative study on integration policy of immigrants in the EU: Baltic countries have the strictest citizenship policies
• Two interpretations of Koran published in Latvian
• Neatkariga interviews an academic, doctor of philology Irina Dimante about language issues and education in Latvia

Telegraf prints an interview with an asylum seeker from Nigeria. The asylum seeker arrived in Latvia and has been awaiting the decision on his status for more than a year. The man relates his story about his flight from Nigeria.

Chas reports that a comparative study on integration policy of immigrants in the EU countries conducted by the Migration Policy Group (MPG) shows that Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania have the strictest citizenship policies. According to Jan Niessen, the director of the MPG , the Baltic countries have high requirements for naturalisation, prohibit dual citizenship and immigrant children have no possibilities to receive citizenship automatically.

Diena reports about almost simultaneous publication of two interpretations of Koran in Latvian. According to the head of the Latvia Centre of Oriental Culture Hosam Abu Meri, the aim of the Korans interpretations is to acquaint people with its text and to challenge existing prejudice.

Neatkariga interviews an academic, doctor of philology Irina Dimante about language issues and education in Latvia. Dr Dimante does not support the transition of all schools to solely into the Latvian language and considers that such initiatives increase ethnic tensions. According to Dr Dimante, Russian speaking youths no longer face problems with proficiency in Latvian. At the same time, those ethnic Russians who graduate from Latvian language schools have poor proficiency in their mother tongue. The academic believes that at least primary education should be received in native language in order to preserve it.

• Latvijas Avize reports about an integration project implemented by the Riga Office of the IOM

Latvijas Avize reports about an integration project implemented by the Riga Office of the International Organisation for Migration. The project is aimed at women who have recently immigrated to Latvia. The project includes the Latvian language courses and integration courses about various aspects of life in Latvia.

• New President of Latvia – Andris Berzins
• Latvian Ambassador to the OSCE Gints Apals: it is wrong to perceive that the OSCE puts pressure on Latvia
• Vesti Segodnya prints an interview with the Ombudsman
• Riga City Council granted LVL 30,000 (EUR 42,300) for Latvian language courses

The Saeima elected Andris Berzins for the post of the new President of Latvia. Mr. Berzins was elected with 53 votes “for” and 44 votes “against”. The current President Valdis Zatlers received support of only 41 MPs. Andris Berzins is a former banker and parliament’s member. Newspapers report that, yesterday, during the President’s election in the Saeima, several hundreds of persons held a meeting near the parliament’s building protesting against “power of oligarchs” in Latvia and supporting re-election of Valdis Zatlers.

The Saeima elected Andris Berzins for the post of the new President of Latvia. Mr. Berzins was elected with 53 votes for and 44 votes against. The current President Valdis Zatlers received support of only 41 MPs. Andris Berzins is a former banker and parliaments member. Newspapers report that, yesterday, during the Presidents election in the Saeima, several hundreds of persons held a meeting near the parliaments building protesting against power of oligarchs in Latvia and supporting re-election of Valdis Zatlers. Chas, Telegraf, Vesti Segodnya, Diena, Latvijas Avize, Neatkariga

Latvijas Avize prints an interview with the Latvian Ambassador to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Gints Apals. According to Mr. Apals, it is wrong to perceive that the OSCE and other European structures put pressure on Latvia regarding the issue on ethnic minorities and citizenship. Mr. Apals says that the High Commissioner for National Minorities gives only recommendations to Latvia.

The Ombudsman Juris Jansons in an interview with

The Ombudsman Juris Jansons in an interview with Vesti Segodnya states that acceptance of Latvian citizenship is a personal choice of a person. Mr Jansons believes that the problem is not in the large number of non-citizens but in the fact that this issue has not been solved for years. Mr Jansons also believes that the language proficiency is integral part of professional qualifications of policemen and therefore maintains that recent dismissals of policemen on the grounds of poor language proficiency do not represent discrimination.

The Riga City Council granted LVL 30,000 (EUR 42,300) for Latvian language courses for Riga residents. The target group of the courses is residents with poor or very poor Latvian language proficiency.

The Riga City Council granted LVL 30,000 (EUR 42,300) for Latvian language courses for Riga residents. The target group of the courses is residents with poor or very poor Latvian language proficiency. Diena