Debates on the state language have been ongoing in the Saeima for almost three hours.
So, today the plenary session of the Saeima began with the first parliamentary debates on the state language in modern history. The starting point for the debates was a report from the Ministry of Education on what has been done and plans for further strengthening the position of the Latvian language. The head of the Ministry of Education, Dače Melbārde (New Unity), opened the debates, and the Speaker of the Saeima, as well as the Ministers of Culture and Foreign Affairs, also spoke. The debates have been ongoing for almost three hours and will apparently last at least another hour, as there are still 14 speakers on the list — these are Saeima deputies and parliamentary secretaries of ministries.
The head of the National Alliance faction, Ilze Indriksone, delivered a strong speech. She lamented that not all radical initiatives of the National Alliance find support in the Saeima.
"We called to open the Law on the State Language to strengthen the protection of the language in the digital space, advertising, and the public environment. The response was: 'we will not open the law in this Saeima.' That is, we protect the language, but only theoretically. We proposed to limit the use of the Russian language in the public environment. The proposals were not supported. We demanded to strengthen oversight, increase fines for those who ignore the state language in customer service. But at that time, there was no political support for that either.
We submitted a Declaration on Russification, which was criminally carried out by the Soviet occupation regime, and the elimination of its (Russification) linguistic consequences. It has been sent to the Committee on Education, Culture, and Science, but our document is gathering dust in the drawers of this committee — without movement... This declaration is not only about the past; it is about the present day of our country. It stipulates the obligation of the state to eliminate the consequences of Russification, to create an action program that would finally provide a systematic solution on how to restore the state language to its rightful place in society. But the majority in the Saeima is afraid of how this will be — too national, too fast, too inconvenient," said the leader of the National Alliance, and concluded by reporting on... a new threat to the state language. "And there is also a new threat today that is very specific — the sharply increased number of newcomers and migrant workers. In recent years, thousands of workers from Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and other countries have entered Latvia. We cannot allow the state language to disappear in the labor market and everyday environment.
In the service sector — cafes, restaurants, food supplies — I think you have all encountered the situation where an order in the state language is impossible to understand. A client speaks in Latvian, the worker does not understand a word, and communication occurs in English or gestures. This is no longer the public environment of Latvia; it is an anonymous, language-less space.
The National Alliance believes that everyone who works in any customer service industry should have a certain level of proficiency in the state language, and the State Language Center should have both the right and the ability to control it.
