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 Review

Last week the Chairman of the Council of Venspils City A.Lembergs and some business people had unofficial meetings with high officials in Moscow. The aim of this visit was to understand what would be in store for Latvia in connection with the problem of Naturalisation of non-citizens. A.Lembergs acknowledged that it was important to find out what could be the situation if Latvian citizens rejected the amendments to the Law on Citizenship or if they agreed with amending. “If the amendments were rejected, it would be the second largest disaster in Latvia after 1940. EU, the USA and the rest of the civilised world would interpret this Latvian decision as giving up the co-operation,” said the Chairman adding that all this would affect also the economic situation in Latvia - it would loose market for its goods and services.

Last week the Chairman of the Council of Venspils City A.Lembergs and some business people had unofficial meetings with high officials in Moscow. The aim of this visit was to understand what would be in store for Latvia in connection with the problem of Naturalisation of non-citizens. A.Lembergs acknowledged that it was important to find out what could be the situation if Latvian citizens rejected the amendments to the Law on Citizenship or if they agreed with amending. If the amendments were rejected, it would be the second largest disaster in Latvia after 1940. EU, the USA and the rest of the civilised world would interpret this Latvian decision as giving up the co-operation, said the Chairman adding that all this would affect also the economic situation in Latvia - it would loose market for its goods and services. Neatkariga

The Chairman of the union

The Chairman of the union Tevzemei un Brivibai/LNNK M.Grinblats expressed his opinion that poor results of the first week of signature collection campaign did not show the number of people supporting the referendum. He also said that insufficient number of signatures would just prove that the amendments to the Law on Citizenship should be reconsidered during the next Saeima. There is still a lot of time till August 18, and people do not rush, besides many citizens have not received complete and objective information on the importance of this national voting and the location of districts for collecting signatures. Neatkariga

Answering to the article in the newspaper

Answering to the article in the newspaper Neatkariga Mysterious recommendations of OSCE MP I.Kreituse publishes her opinion on this issue. She finds this article too late because the dialogue between the authorities and the society should have taken place before adopting the amendments to the Law on Citizenship. In reality, the dialogue has not really started even now. What happens, is imposing of the only right opinion, maximally hiding the process of events and satisfying economic ambitions of parties. They say that documents of Max van der Stoel are secret both for the President, Saeima Juridical Commission and European Integration Bureau. They just have heard about them, but Ms.Kreirtuse, after discussing this problem with some journalist, got copies of these documents in 10 minutes. And there was no sign of confidentiality on them. Neatkariga

The campaign of collecting signatures is still very slow. According to

The campaign of collecting signatures is still very slow. According to Diena information, only about 8000 people have signed the proposal last week.

The union

The union Tevzemei un Brivibai/LNNK continues its advertisement campaign for signing the proposal and published their 10 questions and answers in the most popular newspaper in the countryside Lauku Avize.

The same newspaper published an interview with the Minister of Foreign Affairs V.Birkavs about the present situation in Latvia and country’s relations with other states. Mr.Birkavs thinks that if the amendments were rejected there would be a situation when several hundred thousand people would form a separate community that could always be a source for destabilising the situation. The Minister of Foreign Affairs also speaks about the relations with Russia and the USA.

The same newspaper published an interview with the Minister of Foreign Affairs V.Birkavs about the present situation in Latvia and countrys relations with other states. Mr.Birkavs thinks that if the amendments were rejected there would be a situation when several hundred thousand people would form a separate community that could always be a source for destabilising the situation. The Minister of Foreign Affairs also speaks about the relations with Russia and the USA. Lauku Avize

A deputy of the Riga City Council Yakov Pliner writes about the situation with teaching several subjects in the state language in non-Latvian schools and the results of the state inspection. The State inspection has examined 92 general education and 23 vocation education schools and all together 740 teachers. 327 of these people are Latvians, 372 have certificates of the state language knowledge on the highest level, 35 do not have sufficient knowledge and 41 teachers have a certificate of the second level. Some regions do not face this problem because there are no Russian speaking schools. Last year there were 211 non-Latvian speaking schools in Latvia. In many of these schools there is a whole bunch of problems - many teachers do not know the Latvian language to ensure the quality necessary for teaching a subject in the state language, the Latvian language knowledge is different among students, etc. What drawbacks do teachers themselves see in this system? Lack of teaching materials, terminology dictionaries, methodological literature and even if materials are available, schools have no means to purchase them.

A deputy of the Riga City Council Yakov Pliner writes about the situation with teaching several subjects in the state language in non-Latvian schools and the results of the state inspection. The State inspection has examined 92 general education and 23 vocation education schools and all together 740 teachers. 327 of these people are Latvians, 372 have certificates of the state language knowledge on the highest level, 35 do not have sufficient knowledge and 41 teachers have a certificate of the second level. Some regions do not face this problem because there are no Russian speaking schools. Last year there were 211 non-Latvian speaking schools in Latvia. In many of these schools there is a whole bunch of problems - many teachers do not know the Latvian language to ensure the quality necessary for teaching a subject in the state language, the Latvian language knowledge is different among students, etc. What drawbacks do teachers themselves see in this system? Lack of teaching materials, terminology dictionaries, methodological literature and even if materials are available, schools have no means to purchase them. SM

NGO Centre in Latvia announces a competition of projects for NGOs aimed to further formation of a civic society in Latvia.

NGO Centre in Latvia announces a competition of projects for NGOs aimed to further formation of a civic society in Latvia. SM