Integration monitor is a daily Latvian press digest on ethnic minority and society integration issues. The Monitor reviews the biggest Latvian dailies: Diena, Latvijas Avize, Neatkariga (in Latvian language), Vesti Segodnya (in Russian language). In specific cases other information sources are used. Latvian Centre for Human Rights is not responsible for information published by the media.

Press Report

Press Report

“Latvia has undeniably done much in implementing the guidelines set by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), however, it is too hasty to speak about closing the mission in Latvia until a concrete decision is adopted”, LETA was told by the head of the OSCE mission to Latvia Peter Semneby. Semneby said that OSCE meeting will be held December 20 where he is going to report on Latvia, after that a decision will be adopted on whether the mission is to be closed or it must continue work.

Latvia has undeniably done much in implementing the guidelines set by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), however, it is too hasty to speak about closing the mission in Latvia until a concrete decision is adopted, LETA was told by the head of the OSCE mission to Latvia Peter Semneby. Semneby said that OSCE meeting will be held December 20 where he is going to report on Latvia, after that a decision will be adopted on whether the mission is to be closed or it must continue work. LETA

Diena

publishes the article Doesnt Latvia Want to Be in NATO? by Artis Pabriks, associated Professor at the University of Vidzeme. In the article he views Latvias stance towards language requirements for election candidates and that this stance, in his opinion, shows that Latvia does not want to join NATO. publishes the article “Doesn’t Latvia Want to Be in NATO?” by Artis Pabriks, associated Professor at the University of Vidzeme. In the article he views Latvia’s stance towards language requirements for election candidates and that this stance, in his opinion, shows that Latvia does not want to join NATO. Latvian foreign affairs minister I.Berzins informed that he has met with foreign ministers of numerous countries (Denmark, Norway) and representatives of the government during the OSCE meeting in Bucharest, and all of them have expressed understanding of Latvia's desire to close the mission.

Latvian foreign affairs minister I.Berzins informed that he has met with foreign ministers of numerous countries (Denmark, Norway) and representatives of the government during the OSCE meeting in Bucharest, and all of them have expressed understanding of Latvia's desire to close the mission. Latvijas Vestnesis

Yesterday the new U.S. Ambassador to Latvia Brian Carlson submitted his letter of credentials to President Vaira Vike-Freiberga. After submitting the letter of credentials, Carlson told that his work in Latvia will primarily concern co-operation in fight on international terrorism and promoting Latvia's integration into the European Union and NATO.

Yesterday the new U.S. Ambassador to Latvia Brian Carlson submitted his letter of credentials to President Vaira Vike-Freiberga. After submitting the letter of credentials, Carlson told that his work in Latvia will primarily concern co-operation in fight on international terrorism and promoting Latvia's integration into the European Union and NATO. Diena, Vesti Segodnja

The USA ambassador also met with Minister of Foreign Affairs I.Berzins. In the course of the meeting society integration issues were discussed and it was emphasised that the guidelines of the OSCE Mission are fulfilled and it should be closed.

The USA ambassador also met with Minister of Foreign Affairs I.Berzins. In the course of the meeting society integration issues were discussed and it was emphasised that the guidelines of the OSCE Mission are fulfilled and it should be closed. Latvijas Vestnesis

Latvia’s Way was allegedly blackmailed before the vote on next year’s budget. The leaders of Latvia’s Way were told by the People’s Party that in case LW does not back PP in the votes on granting state guarantees and allotting money for buying Saeima limousines, the premier could lose his chair.

Latvias Way was allegedly blackmailed before the vote on next years budget. The leaders of Latvias Way were told by the Peoples Party that in case LW does not back PP in the votes on granting state guarantees and allotting money for buying Saeima limousines, the premier could lose his chair. Neatkariga

Russian State Duma MP Boris Pastukhov, the head of the committee for the CIS and contacts with compatriots, said Tuesday at a news conference in Moscow that Russian-speaker rights are being violated in the fields of employment, citizenship and others. According to Pastukhov, in Latvia only 8,000 persons of a total of half a million non-citizens in this Baltic state "were able to naturalise" in nine months of this year but in neighbouring Estonia citizenship was granted to 3,500 out of 220,00 non-citizens seeking naturalisation

Russian State Duma MP Boris Pastukhov, the head of the committee for the CIS and contacts with compatriots, said Tuesday at a news conference in Moscow that Russian-speaker rights are being violated in the fields of employment, citizenship and others. According to Pastukhov, in Latvia only 8,000 persons of a total of half a million non-citizens in this Baltic state "were able to naturalise" in nine months of this year but in neighbouring Estonia citizenship was granted to 3,500 out of 220,00 non-citizens seeking naturalisation. Vesti Segodnja

Tomorrow the President is convening the working session for the experts in field of human rights and relevant international legislation. The main discussion subject will be the situation in the Latvian language legislation and rights of national minorities in the context of international agreements binding to Latvia. According to unofficial sources of

Tomorrow the President is convening the working session for the experts in field of human rights and relevant international legislation. The main discussion subject will be the situation in the Latvian language legislation and rights of national minorities in the context of international agreements binding to Latvia. According to unofficial sources of Vesti Segodnja the President decided to convene the meeting in order to learn whether she should be the one who proposes to amend the Laws on Elections.

Panorama Latvii

asks couple questions to Nils Muiznieks, Latvian Human Rights and Ethnic Studies Centre director, regarding the meeting. He thinks that there is a hope for positive changes in Latvias position towards language requirements provided for by the Laws on Election. The newspaper also writes that neither Latvian Human Rights Committee nor the ambassador of the OSCE was among the invited persons. Peter Semneby, OSCE Mission to Latvia ambassador, told that Latvias problems should be solved first of all by Latvian citizens themselves. I cannot judge what will be the contribution of this meeting or comment the possible solutions. Lets wait. asks couple questions to Nils Muiznieks, Latvian Human Rights and Ethnic Studies Centre director, regarding the meeting. He thinks that there is a hope for positive changes in Latvia’s position towards language requirements provided for by the Laws on Election. The newspaper also writes that neither Latvian Human Rights Committee nor the ambassador of the OSCE was among the invited persons. Peter Semneby, OSCE Mission to Latvia ambassador, told that “Latvia’s problems should be solved first of all by Latvian citizens themselves. I cannot judge what will be the contribution of this meeting or comment the possible solutions. Let’s wait”.

Vesti Segodnja

writes that Latvian foreign affairs minister I.Berzins praised the OSCE during his visit to Bucharest, however, the minister actively lobbied for the closure of the OSCE Mission to Latvia in political corridors. The newspaper looks into the mandate of the OSCE and considers that none of the tasks included in the mandate could threaten the image of Latvia. It writes, it is obvious that the authorities are cunning, in fact, the government does not have any particular interest in the issues concerning naturalisation… And their statement that OSCE Mission is an obstacle to Latvias membership to the EU and NATO – it is just one more myth produced by national domestic policy. writes that Latvian foreign affairs minister I.Berzins praised the OSCE during his visit to Bucharest, however, the minister actively lobbied for the closure of the OSCE Mission to Latvia in political corridors. The newspaper looks into the mandate of the OSCE and considers that none of the tasks included in the mandate could threaten the image of Latvia. It writes, “it is obvious that the authorities are cunning, in fact, the government does not have any particular interest in the issues concerning naturalisation… And their statement that OSCE Mission is an obstacle to Latvia’s membership to the EU and NATO – it is just one more myth produced by national domestic policy”. FF/LLNK has submitted to the Saeima proposal to amend the Law on Municipalities and introduce the amendments, which would provide for stricter language requirements regarding the working language at municipalities. “Our proposal is that it should be clearly stated that at municipalities all sittings, including the sittings of committees, commissions, press conferences and etc. should be exclusively in the state language”, says FF/LNNK member P.Tabuns. In his turn FHRUL MP B.Cilevics says that “these proposals are kind of small compensation to FF/LNNK for the amendments to the Statutes of the State Language Centre adopted by the Government”. The newspaper concludes, “In fact, this is the defeat of FF/LNNK. However, we should not become too happy. If the OSCE Mission is closed, it would give the green light to some radicals and the situation in the field of human rights get worse”.

FF/LLNK has submitted to the Saeima proposal to amend the Law on Municipalities and introduce the amendments, which would provide for stricter language requirements regarding the working language at municipalities. Our proposal is that it should be clearly stated that at municipalities all sittings, including the sittings of committees, commissions, press conferences and etc. should be exclusively in the state language, says FF/LNNK member P.Tabuns. In his turn FHRUL MP B.Cilevics says that these proposals are kind of small compensation to FF/LNNK for the amendments to the Statutes of the State Language Centre adopted by the Government. The newspaper concludes, In fact, this is the defeat of FF/LNNK. However, we should not become too happy. If the OSCE Mission is closed, it would give the green light to some radicals and the situation in the field of human rights get worse. Vesti Segodnja, Panorama Latvii

Chas publishes an editorial about the issue.

Chas publishes an editorial about the issue.

Latvijas Vestnesis

provides the printed version of President Vaira Vike-Freibergas interview for the National Radio. provides the printed version of President Vaira Vike-Freiberga’s interview for the National Radio. Journalist: Last week Russian foreign affairs minister made a statement that OSCE Missions to Latvia and Estonia still have lot to do regarding Russian-speakers in these countries and he asked to continue the activities of both Missions in these countries. As we know, Latvia and Estonia hope that Missions will be closed in December this year. You are convening the meeting of experts, advisors to harmonise international obligations with national interests in the field of state language policy.

Journalist: Last week Russian foreign affairs minister made a statement that OSCE Missions to Latvia and Estonia still have lot to do regarding Russian-speakers in these countries and he asked to continue the activities of both Missions in these countries. As we know, Latvia and Estonia hope that Missions will be closed in December this year. You are convening the meeting of experts, advisors to harmonise international obligations with national interests in the field of state language policy.

President: The official stance of Latvia is that we have had a very successful co-operation with the Mission, and I think that we could even be named as the example for other countries how a country shall co-operate with missions and gradually introduce amendments to its legislation to bring the country from totalitarian regime, which we had here in Soviet times, to the level when we correspond to any international requirements and criteria in the field of human rights in almost no time. We consider our work a success story, and the peak point of this success is that we can see the closure of the Mission, of course, continuing the dialogue with the OSCE High Commissioner, we are not absolutely perfect. We have definitely done all what was required from us. I think, perfection, from our own point of view, is that we want to strengthen all democratic institutions in our country, at the same time it is clear that we want to strengthen the rights of our people and our language. Therefore, the statement of Mr.Ivanov is inappropriate from the following aspect: it is not in the tasks of this organisation. We ourselves are aware of these issues. But we want to be on the very safe side that considerations regarding human rights would not contradict with the basic policy of our country, which is that the Latvian language is the only official and state language, the only language of the debates in the Saeima, it is absolutely clear that we have to ensure that. The question is whether our legislation and the Constitution guarantee that; my opinion is that they do. But at the same time we do not want to make any requirements which place our citizens in different categories”.

President: The official stance of Latvia is that we have had a very successful co-operation with the Mission, and I think that we could even be named as the example for other countries how a country shall co-operate with missions and gradually introduce amendments to its legislation to bring the country from totalitarian regime, which we had here in Soviet times, to the level when we correspond to any international requirements and criteria in the field of human rights in almost no time. We consider our work a success story, and the peak point of this success is that we can see the closure of the Mission, of course, continuing the dialogue with the OSCE High Commissioner, we are not absolutely perfect. We have definitely done all what was required from us. I think, perfection, from our own point of view, is that we want to strengthen all democratic institutions in our country, at the same time it is clear that we want to strengthen the rights of our people and our language. Therefore, the statement of Mr.Ivanov is inappropriate from the following aspect: it is not in the tasks of this organisation. We ourselves are aware of these issues. But we want to be on the very safe side that considerations regarding human rights would not contradict with the basic policy of our country, which is that the Latvian language is the only official and state language, the only language of the debates in the Saeima, it is absolutely clear that we have to ensure that. The question is whether our legislation and the Constitution guarantee that; my opinion is that they do. But at the same time we do not want to make any requirements which place our citizens in different categories.