LATVIA: Latvian parliament rejects constitutional amendments which would have granted the Russian language an official status in the Baltic republic

Record ID: 327665

  • Title: LATVIA: Latvian parliament rejects constitutional amendments which would have granted the Russian language an official status in the Baltic republic
  • Date: 23rd December 2011
  • Summary: RIGA, LATVIA (DECEMBER 22, 2011) (REUTERS) PARLIAMENT DEPUTIES ARRIVING AT SESSION VARIOUS OF HARMONY CENTRE DEPUTIES TALKING BEFORE SESSION DEPUTIES TAKING SEATS DEPUTIES TALKING PARLIAMENT EMPLOYEE HANDING OUT MATERIALS TO DEPUTIES DEPUTIES DURING SESSION DEPUTIES LISTENING DEPUTIES VOTING (SOUNDBITE) (Latvian) MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, RAIVIS DZINTARS SAYING: "It is a slap in the face for those Latvians who have already experienced bilingualism during 50 years of occupation, but without the chances to vote against. In fact, an open fight against Latvian statehood is being declared with the aggressive campaign which is funded from abroad." DEPUTIES DURING SESSION (SOUNDBITE) (Latvian) NATIONAL ALLIANCE DEPUTY, RAIVIS DZINTARS SAYING: "In an open competition, Latvian cannot compete with Russian, which is spoken by 100 times more people in the world. Officially bilingualism would mean giving up the Latvian language as the foundation of Latvia's statehood and that would be the final phase of Latvia's russification." PARLIAMENT SESSION CAMERAS HARMONY CENTRE DEPUTIES GETTING UP AND LEAVING SESSION HALL VARIOUS OF HARMONY CENTRE DEPUTIES LEAVING SESSION HALL DOCUMENTS AND GLASSES ON DEPUTY WORKING TABLE EMPTY DEPUTIES' SEATS (SOUNDBITE) (Latvian) HARMONY CENTRE DEPUTY, ANDREJS KLEMENTJEVS, SAYING: "Right from the start we [Harmony Centre] did not agree to amend the constitution, and from the beginning most of our deputies did not participate in the signature drive and campaign. Still, in our opinion, we cannot ignore almost 200,000 signatures." NOTEBOOK AND PEN ON DEPUTY WORKING TABLE (SOUNDBITE) (Latvian) HARMONY CENTRE DEPUTY, ANDREJS KLEMENTJEVS SAYING: "The biggest motivation for people who participated in the signature drive was not the constitutional amendments but the fact that their opinion is ignored all the time." PARLIAMENT SESSION DEPUTIES TALKING DEPUTY GIVING A SPEECH FROM PLATFORM VARIOUS OF DEPUTIES DURING THE SESSION
  • Embargoed: 7th January 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Latvia, Latvia
  • Country: Latvia
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA15X5HS80DH62UO8OJJWT6AVEC
  • Story Text: During an emergency session on Thursday (December 22), the Latvian parliament turned down constitutional amendments which would have granted the Russian language an official status in the Baltic republic.
    Deputies who voted against the amendments based their decision on the fact that the Latvian language is the foundation of the Latvian state, and must not to be questioned.
    "It is a slap in the face for those Latvians who have already experienced bilingualism during 50 years of occupation, but without the chances to vote against," said a parliament member Raivis Dzintars from the National Alliance 'All for Latvia'. "In fact, an open fight against Latvian statehood is being declared with the aggressive campaign which is funded from abroad," he added.
    Parliamentarians also said that bilingualism would endanger the existence of the Latvian language which is already one of the smallest languages in the world according to the number of people speaking it.
    "In an open competition, Latvian cannot compete with Russian, which is spoken by 100 times more people in the world," admitted Dzintars. "Officially bilingualism would mean giving up the Latvian language as the foundation of Latvia's statehood and that would be the final phase of Latvia's russification."
    The pro-Russian party 'Harmony Centre', traditionally backed by Latvia's Russian speaking minority, left the session before the vote.
    Officially the party did not encourage their members to sign for Russian as the second state language, but unofficially several of its members took part in signing, among them some MPs.
    "Right from the start we [Harmony Centre] did not agree to amend the constitution, and from the beginning most of our deputies did not participate in the signature drive and campaign," said the 'Harmony Centre' deputy Andrejs Klementjevs. "Still, in our opinion, we cannot ignore almost 200,000 signatures," he added.
    Klementjevs said that in his opinion participants of the language campaign did it in a protest against the fact that 'Harmony Centre' which received the most votes in the parliamentary elections in September was not included in the ruling coalition.
    "The biggest motivation for people who participated in the signature drive was not the constitutional amendments but the fact that their opinion is ignored all the time," said Klementjevs.
    The parliamentary vote followed the signature drive to amend the constitution. A total of 187,378 voters or 12 percent of the Latvian citizens who have the right to vote signed the petition. It was enough to railroad the bill further.
    As the amendments concern one of the general regulations of the Latvian constitution, a national referendum will be held regardless of the parliamentary vote.
    It is likely that the referendum will be held on February 18, 2012. For the Russian language to become official the motion needs the support of about 750,000 of Latvia's 2 million-strong population, nearly half of which are ethnic Russians.
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