Diena observer Guntars Gute encourages parliamentarians for adopting amendments to the Administrative Offenses Law regarding violations in the areas of governance, public order, and the state language — namely, fines for 'disrespecting the state language'.
“Everything is correct and welcomed — considering the situation where, more than 30 years after the restoration of Latvia's independence, it is still necessary to face the fact that many individuals refuse to use the state language due to lack of proficiency or unwillingness and 'as a matter of principle', the tactics for protecting the state language need to change, and it is necessary to adopt not only the carrot principle but also the sticks.”
“However, the question remains relevant: will these amendments (like many other initiatives in various fields) remain only on paper, and in real life, we will have to conclude that the situation does not improve even with increased fines? Another important nuance is that it should be clearly defined that this condition applies not only to those who 'as a matter of principle' continue to insist on communicating in their beloved Russian language but also to those EU citizens and third-country nationals who officially live and work in Latvia but do not have any level of proficiency in the state language.”
“More than strange,” the commentator continues, “is that in Latvia it is considered normal for people who have direct communication with clients to work without being able to communicate in the state language at all, and at best, they can manage to squeeze out a few words in Russian or English. Accordingly, everyone who wants to live and work in Latvia must have proficiency in the state language. Moreover, it is necessary to have a good conversational level. Thus, the principle of the stick for disrespecting the state language should preferably be applied in a significantly broader range of 'target clients'.
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