• Preamble to the Constitution of Latvia to be presented next week
• Aleksandrs Gaponenko: Congress of Non-Citizens is not Kremlin’s agent

Vesti Segodnya reports about the draft Preamble to the Constitution of Latvia developed under the guidance of the head of the President’s Commission on Constitutional Law Egils Levits. The aim of the draft Preamble is to determine legally the core of the Constitution and to set irrevocable articles related to the fact that ethnic Latvians are the state nation, Latvian language as the only state language, and the state’s integrity is inseparable. The draft Preamble planned to be presented in the Parliament next week.

According to one of the leaders of the Congress of Non-Citizens Aleksandrs Gaponenko, the Congress has never received money from Russia and cannot be considered as Kremlin’s agent. Mr Gaponenko also confirmed that one representative of the Congress joined the headquarters of the Russian oppositional leader Aleksey Navalniy in order to learn the experience on organising the pre-election campaign and mass actions. Mr Gaponenko also says that the Congress actively works outside of Latvia in order to attract international attention to the problem of non-citizenship. Vesti Segodnya

• The Speaker of the Saeima Solvita Aboltina accuses the Concord Centre of receiving funding and tasks from Russian Embassy
• Political scientist Ilga Kreituse: the society is not divided

The Speaker of the Saeima Solvita Aboltina in an interview with Latvijas Avize stated that the Concord Centre is not interested in the development of Latvia and receives its instructions from the Russian Embassy.  Mrs Aboltina stated that she wants to explain Latvian citizens that every voice given at the elections to the Concord Centre is not just a voice for Russian party but the voice for such force which receives its tasks from Russia. Mrs Aboltina also said “while ethnic Latvian parties are fighting each other, the Concord Centre is consolidating, getting paid and trained by foreign forces, and we can loose our country.” Commenting such statements of the Speaker, the one of the leaders of the Concord Centre, MP Valerijs Agesins stated that he might appeal to the Saeima’s Mandates, Ethics and Submissions Committee and the court asking to evaluate the statements and ask Mrs Aboltina to prove her words by facts. Vesti Segodnya

According to a political scientist Ilga Kreituse, there is no ethnic split in society. Mrs Kreituse says that she works at the university with Russians speakers who speak Latvian language and with ethnic Latvians who are willing to learn Russian and there are no preconditions which could lead to confrontations. Mrs Kreituse believes that the word “split” is used by politicians in order to justify the things they haven’t done. Latvijas Avize

• Ex-leader of the nationalists’ party Janis Straume: ethnic peace is the most important issue for Latvia

Vesti Segodnya interviews ex-leader of the nationalists’ party For Fatherland and Freedom/LNIM Janis Straume (not active politician at present). According to Mr Straume, ethnic peace is the most important issue for Latvia because if there is ethnic peace there will be economic breakthrough, stability and improvement of demographic situation.  Janis Straume believes that the results of the elections to the Riga City Council when the vast majority voted for the union of the Concord Centre and the Honour to Serve Riga showed the real integration, because ethnically mixed electorate voted for the joint list of ethnic Russians and ethnic Latvians. Mr Straume believes that the Concord Centre has chances to repeat the success in the up-coming parliamentary election and establish coalition with rationally minded ethnic Latvian politicians.

• Real estate dealers do not support cancelling of the legal provision stipulating granting of residence permits to foreign investors

According to the real estate dealers interviewed by Diena, any changes in the policy of granting residence permits to foreign investors can negatively impact not only the real estate market but also the economy of the whole country. As reported, the nationalists’ union All for Latvia!/FF-LNIM insists on cancelling the legal norm stipulating granting of residence permits to foreigners who buy expensive real estate in Latvia. The Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis also believes that it would be wrong to cancel the existing system of granting residence permits as it insures significant income to the state budget. At the same time, the Prime Minister believes that it is necessary to consider how to decrease the rate of issuing the residence permits and to facilitate the contribution of this system into the economy. Diena

30 August 2013

 

• The Ministry of Culture imposed 15% restriction on Latvian non-citizens attending integration courses funded by the EU

 

Vesti Segodnya received a complaint from a non-citizen of Latvia who was refused participation in the integration courses conducted by the Riga Latvian Society and funded by the EU. The courses envisage intensive training 3-4-5 hours daily, provide learning of Latvian language learning, the history and the Constitution of Latvia, employ modern learning methods and include specialist consultations. According to the Project Director Lauma Celma, the Riga Latvian Society developed the whole programme and successfully obtained the necessary EU funding 140,000 LVL (199,203 EUR) (the European Fund for the Integration of third-country nationals). The Riga Latvian Society also issued Latvian vocabulary with fairytales, illustrated naturalisation brochures, and brought participants to the birthplace of Karlis Ulmanis. Non-citizens participating in the programme were really motivated and the programme got appraisal by the Saeima. However, recently, the Ministry of Culture imposed a new rule, whereby non-citizens can represent no more than 15% of the participants. Lauma Celma is perplexed by the decision, as the Ministry of Culture did not discuss the measure with the Riga Latvian Society and did not try to explain or justify before imposing it. According to the Director of the Integration Department of the Ministry of Integration Anita Kleinberga, initially, the EU funds were envisioned only for third country nationals, who spent less then 5 years in Latvia and therefore the Ministry introduced the 15% restriction on non-citizens; otherwise, the European Fund for the Integration of third-country nationals could interpret participation of Latvian non-citizens as a violation and request Latvia to return the funding. Lauma Celma of the Riga Latvian Society is not convinced by the 15% arguments, because she herself studied the EU requirements; moreover, the Ministry did not object to the non-citizens participating in 2011 and also earlier this year; since then, nothing changed at the EU – the Ministry has changed its mind. Lauma Celma asks if the non-citizens who filled the two groups quickly within two days should be turned down now. Representative of Latvian Human Rights Committee Vladimirs Buzaevs highlighted that the EU does not have a consistent understanding about the problem of Latvia's non-citizens: for some purposes these people are portrayed as foreigners third country nationals, for other purposes – as stateless persons etc. The concerned non-citizen wonders if Latvia discriminates against its own non-citizens treating them worse than it treats third country nationals.