• 45-50 years old Russian speaking women feel the most insecure in Latvia
• Founding meeting of the Congress of Non-Citizens will be held on 23 March
• Unity proposes to transfer education in all Riga kindergartens into Latvian language only

According to a portrait of human security, Russian speaking women aged 45-50 who live in Latgale region or Riga and have average income are the group of people who feel themselves most insecure in Latvia. These women are not engaged in any public organisations and relay only on themselves. The portrait was drawn in a research “Human Security in Latvia and the World: from idea to practice” conducted in the framework of a project “National Identity” within State research program. Latvijas Avize, Neatkariga

Newspapers report that the founding meeting of the Congress of Non-Citizens will be held on 23 March.  According to one of the initiators of the Congress Elizabete Krivcova, the aim is to establish self-government of non-citizens which will be a legitimate representative of 300,000 non-citizens in Latvia. The Congress wants to take part in various sessions and meetings of the government and municipal councils representing opinion of non-citizens and lobbying their interests. Vesti Segodnya, Latvijas Avize

The political party Unity proposes to transfer gradually education in all Riga kindergartens into Latvian language only. According to the Unity, there are cases when ethnic Latvians are forced to send their children to Russian language kindergartens because all Latvian language kindergartens are full. However, according to a representative of the Education, Culture and Sports Department of the Riga City Council, all groups in Latvian and Russian language kindergartens are full. 60% or 2,191 children are waiting for a place in Latvian language kindergarten group, 27% or 986 children are waiting for Russian language group, and 13% or 475 children are waiting for a place in one or the other language group. In total, there are 728 Latvian language groups and 585 minority language groups in Riga. Latvijas Avize

 

 

• Residence permits in Latvia become more popular among citizens of China
• Administrative Regional Court refused a claim of Vladimirs Lindermans in his case against the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs
• Neatkariga: Ministers of the nationalists’ union will not take part in the processions on 16 March

An opportunity to receive a residence permit in Latvia in exchange for investments becomes more popular among citizens of the People’s Republic of China and nationals of other countries. Up to now, 155 citizens of China received residence permits in Latvia. Since the adoption of the relevant legal provisions, in total, residence permits were issued to more than 4,500 foreigners, who invested about LVL 300 millions in Latvia. Vesti Segodnya

The Administrative Regional Court refused a claim of Vladimirs Lindermans in his case against the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (OCMA.) The case began in 2010, when Mr Lindermans applied for naturalisation but the OCMA refused the application arguing that he has no right to apply for Latvian citizenship because he did not reside in Latvia during the last five years continuously. Mr Lindermans, in his turn, argued that the legal acts say that the applicant for naturalisation should reside in Latvia at least five years but the word continuously is not mentioned. Initially, Mr Lindermans appealed the OCMA’s decision in the Administrative District Court of Riga which satisfied the claim and ordered the OCMA to accept Lindermans’ application. However, the OCMA appealed the decision. Latvijas Avize

According to Neatkariga, the Ministers representing the nationalists’ union All for Latvia!-FF/LNIM will not take part in the processions on 16 March (unofficial commemoration day of Latvian Waffen SS legionnaires) due to other scheduled events. The President of Latvia Andris Berzins also will be on a foreign visit on this day. However, the majority of the MPs from the nationalists’ union are planning to take part in the procession. The Security Police expects the 16 March events will pass safely this year. 

• Most popular parties in February: Concord Centre, Unity, Union of Greens and Farmers

According to a survey conducted by “Latvijas fakti” in February, the Concord Centre is the most popular party – it is supported by 26% of respondents. The Unity is supported by 14,3%, the Union of Greens and Farmers by 9,3% and the nationalists’ union All for Latvia- FF/LNIM by 8,7%. Other parties are supported by less than 5% of respondents. Vesti Segodnya

• Saeima refused the draft law stipulating the procedures for becoming ethnic Latvian
• Sestdiena prints an interview with a Spanish citizen living in Latvia for seven years

Yesterday, the Saeima refused a draft law stipulating the procedures whereby a non-ethnic Latvian can officially change his/her ethnic belonging for ethnic Latvian. As reported, the draft law provided that applicants for Latvian ethnic identity would have to meet four criteria: to be a Latvian citizen; to be a permanent resident of Latvia for at least 15 last years; to be proficient in Latvian language at the highest level; to have feeling of belonging to Latvian culture. One of the authors of the draft law MP Andrejs Judins (Unity) argued that ethnic belonging is not only origin, but also a personal sense of belonging to some culture. In its turn, MP Boriss Cilevics (Concord Centre) criticized the proposal; he argued that the state should decrease the role of formal record on ethnic belonging with the aim to ensuring real equality of all Latvian citizens.  Latvijas Avize. Vesti Segodnya, Diena

In the framework of series of articles on immigrants in Latvia, weekly magazine Sestdiena prints an interview with a Spanish Javier living in Latvia for seven years. Javier has a family in Latvia, teaches Spanish language to students and has established the Spanish Culture Centre.  Javier is proficient in Latvian language and reads Latvian literature in Latvian. Javier believes that he would easily pass naturalisation exams, but feels comfortable living in Latvia with Spanish citizenship.

• The rate of naturalisation process is only 1% per year
• Senate of the Supreme Court sent an addition to its appeal to the Constitutional Court on evaluation of a case on referendum on non-citizens
• Society Consolidation Committee plans to come with an appeal to the society asking to be tolerant about 16 March and 9 May events

According to the Saeima Society Consolidation Committee, the rate of naturalisation process is only 1% per year. The biggest number of persons who received Latvian citizenship trough naturalisation 19,169 was in 2005, while in 2011 there were only 2,467 naturalised citizens. In total, 280,584 non-citizens reside in Latvia at present. Head of the Naturalisation Board Igors Gorbunovs believes the low naturalisation rate is impacted by the political context – referendum on the status of Russian language, establishment of the Congress of Non-citizens, and Russia’s call to non-citizens to accept Russian citizenship. Vesti Segodnya

Vesti Segodnya reports that the Senate of the Supreme Court sent an addition to its appeal to the Constitutional Court on evaluation of a case on referendum on non-citizens. In the additional appeal, the Senate asks the Constitutional Court to acknowledge that the articles of the Law on National Referendums which stipulate that the Central Elections Committee (CEC) evaluates the draft laws proposed for the referendum do not comply with the Constitution. As reported, in November 2012, the CEC refused to conduct state funded collection of signatures in support of referendum on granting Latvian citizenship to non-citizens despite the fact that the required number of signatures of Latvian citizens was collected. The initiators of the referendum appealed the decision in the Senate of the Supreme Court arguing the CEC exceeded its authority. The Senate suspended proceedings on the case and asked the Constitutional Court to evaluate it.

The Saeima Society Consolidation Committee plans to come with an appeal to the society asking to be tolerant about 16 March (unofficial commemoration day of Latvian Waffen SS legionnaires) and 9 May (the Day of Victory over Nazism celebrated in many republics of the former Soviet Union) events. The appeal is mainly to be addressed to the politicians, mass media, organisers of the events, municipalities, and NGOs. The appeal would call the observers of the events not to bother persons who want to commemorate veterans of the WWII no matter on which side their fought. The society would be asked not to use Nazi and Soviet symbols and not to offend persons with different opinion. The politicians would be asked not to use the events for political agitation. The mass media would be asked to reflect the events in a balanced way and ignore expressions of radicalism. The municipalities would be asked not to put obstacles for the events and to control the situation, preventing provocative actions and conflicts.