• Candidate to the post of the Mayor of Riga  Sarmite Elerte: President of Russia Vladimir Putin should apologise  for occupation of the Baltic States

The candidate of the Unity to the post of the Mayor of Riga  Sarmite Elerte believes that the result of the integration should be expressed in the following facts: all residents are proficient in Latvian language and use it; all residents acknowledge history of Latvia and its occupation by the Soviet Union based on true historical facts. Also, Mrs Elerte believes that it would be a nice gesture from the President of Russia Vladimir Putin to bring official apologies for occupation of the Baltic States during the WWII.  Vesti Segodnya

• Newspapers report about a conference on situation in the country a year after a referendum on status of Russian language

Newspapers report about a conference on situation in the country a year after a referendum on granting Russian language status of a state language in Latvia. According to the MEP from Latvia Inese Vaidere, situation with the positions of Latvian language has not improved during this year. Mrs Vaidere stated that strengthening of the state language should begin in kindergartens and state funded schools in which children and young people should be educated in Latvian language only. The Minister of Culture Zanete Jaunzeme-Grende informed about activities aimed at promotion of integration mentioning free-of-charge state language courses which are highly demanded among residents. Contrary to the Minister’s opinion about the importance of the language courses, the MP Ina Druviete criticized the fact of spending money for the courses instead of granting funds for strengthening and development of the state language. Vesti Segodnya, Diena, Latvijas Avize

• State Language Centre reproved the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau for bilingual posters
• Latvijas Avize: a year after referendum on status of Russian language
• Ombudsman Juris Jansons: integration of immigrants is not topical issue for Latvia

The State Language Centre (SLC) reproved the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau for bilingual posters. The Bureau began a campaign on prevention of corruption in health care and issued posters with a text in Latvian and Russian languages together. It was planned to put the posters in medical institutions. However, according to the SLC, the bilingual posters cannot be placed in public places because it is violation of the State Language Law. Head of the Bureau Jaroslavs Strelcenoks explained that the posters got issued in two languages with an aim to target as large number of residents as possible. However, due to reproach of the SLC, instead of bilingual posters the Bureau will distribute publicly only posters in Latvian language. Diena

Latvijas Avize prints an article about the referendum on granting Russian language status of a state language in Latvia conducted a year ago and about any changes in integration field since then. According to the article, despite the fact that right after the referendum the politicians argued about the failure of integration policy and the need to improve, almost no practical steps were made to improve it. Also, up to this day, no research was made in order to discover why about 25% of citizens voted for Russian language, what were the reasons and where are the problems. According to a resident of Latgale (Eastern region of Latvia, the majority of  its residents voted for Russian language) interviewed by the newspaper, for many people who voted for Russian language it was more a social protest against existing state policy

The Ombudsman Juris Jansons believes integration of immigrants is not a topical issue for Latvia because Latvia is not attractive in terms of social support, employment and other opportunities. The Ombudsman also believes that violation of human rights of asylum seekers in not a top problem in Latvia and there are no flagrant violations regarding their accommodation conditions. Neatkariga

• Mayor of Riga Nils Usakovs: party For Native Language is a “project” formed by the security services and the Unity
• Saeima partly ratified the European Social Charter

The party For Native Language (FNL) proposed the Concord Centre (CC) to run for the municipal election in Riga within one list.  The Mayor of Riga and the leader of the Concord Centre Nils Usakovs in response to the proposal stated that the FNL is a “project” formed by the security services and the Unity with an aim to deprive the CC some votes of electors in Riga. Potentially, some part of the CC voters might switch to support the FNL, thus taking votes from the CC which are important in order to receive more than 50% of all votes and to remain the governing party in Riga. According to sociologists, it is unlikely that the FNL will gather enough votes to overcome the 4.5% threshold in order to receive a seat in the City Council, and therefore, these votes would be split between both the Concord Centre and the Unity. Vesti Segodnya, Latvijas Avize

Yesterday, the Saeima partly ratified the European Social Charter. Ratification of the Charter makes a number of its articles which guarantees social and economic human rights binding to Latvia. However, the Saeima only partly ratified some of the articles. For instance, the Parliament did not ratify the provision which stipulates that all workers have the right to a fair remuneration sufficient for a decent standard of living for themselves and their families. The Saeima refused also to ratify the article 23 on right of every elderly person to social protection supported only by the oppositional parties.  Vesti Segodnya

 

• Party the Unity tries to justify statement by its candidate to the post of the Mayor of Riga Sarmite Elerte about usage of Russian language at the city council

The political party Unity distributed clarifications regarding recent statement of its candidate to the post of the Mayor of Riga Sarmite Elerte about usage of Russian language at the city council. The Unity stated that Mrs Elerte’s statement made at a TV show “Uncensored” that the city council should accept complaints written also in Russian language got wrongly interpreted. According to the Unity, Mrs Elerte wanted to say that the state language in Latvia is Latvian and the residents should appeal to the city council in Latvian language. But in those cases, when a person who speaks only some foreign language turns to the council, the city council should find a way how to help such persons, for instance, to write a complaint in Latvian from the words of a person. Vesti Segodnya