Deputies discussed and supported the referral of the absurd initiative 'from the people' to the Saeima commission.
“There should be a ban on deputies passing important legislation in the last weeks before elections!” one former prime minister once exclaimed in frustration, who, as the chairman of the parliamentary commission, later had to urgently amend a law passed by the outgoing parliament that required thousands of Latvian Russians to undergo a language proficiency test in Latvian in the shortest possible time.
The election campaign dictates behavior
There are still not the last weeks but a whole 10 months until the elections to the new Saeima, however, the election campaign is already in full swing and the servants of the people are forced to act based on "election logic" rather than common sense and Latvia's international obligations. The most striking example is the "people's initiative" to strip disloyal citizens of their Latvian citizenship and deport them from the country. The initiative appeared back in 2022 on the portal manabalss.lv and did not enjoy much support. Nevertheless, over three years, it was eventually possible to gather the necessary 10,000 signatures from citizens of the Republic of Latvia to advance this initiative to the Saeima.
The provocative proposal was submitted to parliament just as the election campaign began, and deputies from the right-wing parties took advantage of this — at a meeting of the mandate commission, they voted to refer this initiative for substantive consideration by the commission on defense and internal affairs.
It is astonishing but true: all invited experts unanimously stated that implementing this provocative idea is impossible — neither the Constitution nor international law allows it. The absurdity is further compounded by the fact that the chairman of the mandate commission himself, just a couple of weeks ago when this initiative first appeared on the agenda of the plenary session, and yesterday, when it was time to vote on its referral to the defense commission, listed arguments against this ill-conceived initiative. They are as follows:
The Saeima as a theater of the absurd
“The Commission on Mandates, Ethics, and Statements reviewed the collective statement and heard from one of the initiators, who explained that it is necessary to deport and strip citizenship from individuals disloyal to the Latvian state and wishing to be loyal to the Kremlin regime.
Representatives from the Ministry of the Interior and the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, invited to the commission meeting, explained that the existing legal framework is already sufficient for competent authorities to adequately respond to an individual's disloyalty in the country or threats to national security. Representatives from these agencies clarified that amendments had been made to the Citizenship Law after the initiative was proposed, providing for the deprivation of citizenship for supporting aggressor states, provided that the individual does not become stateless.
Representatives from the State Security Service also explained that deporting Latvian citizens is impossible, as citizens have the right to return to the country. As the saying goes, if you push them out the door, they come back in through the window. Representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ombudsman’s Office emphasized that stripping citizenship is a severe interference with an individual's fundamental rights and pointed out Latvia's international obligations.
Considering that Latvia's international obligations prohibit stripping citizenship from individuals without dual citizenship, the commission decided to support the further advancement of the statement and refer it to the commission on defense, internal affairs, and the prevention of corruption for a more in-depth assessment of the possibilities for deporting disloyal individuals from Latvia.”
Do you feel the absurdity of the situation? On one hand, the chairman of the commission himself acknowledges that deportation is impossible, and on the other hand, he still supports the consideration of this initiative. It is clear that such a position has drawn criticism from several deputies.
“Are you going to take them to the Baltic Sea and keep them there?!”
“Why should we, as the Saeima, support the further advancement of this absurd initiative?! Colleagues, have you even opened the document and read it? It simply contains a declarative slogan — we demand legislative amendments to establish the deportation of individuals disloyal to the Latvian state from Latvia and the deprivation of citizenship of the Republic of Latvia.
What are you planning to change directly? Will you take away citizenship? Someone will decide that a person is disloyal and strip them of their only Latvian citizenship. Where will you deport them to? Will you take them by boat to the Baltic Sea and keep them there? So why move forward? Because it sounds good? Because 10,000 people visited the portal over three years and thought, 'Yes, I’ll read this. Oh, that sounds good!'
Deportation is not an option, but what if we really want to?
“Well, here’s the problem. According to the Constitution, you cannot deport a citizen of Latvia from their own country. Period! And you cannot strip citizenship if it results in a person becoming stateless. This is restricted not only by our laws but also by international conventions to which Latvia voluntarily acceded. Colleagues, do any of you really... Does anyone want to declare war on the Constitution? Do we want to withdraw from international conventions like North Korea?”
In support of the further consideration of the initiative, a representative of the ruling coalition stated: “Dear colleagues! Let’s remember when this initiative appeared! This initiative arose at the beginning of the war in Ukraine in May 2022, when disloyal individuals to Latvia gathered near monuments glorifying the Soviet totalitarian regime... hostile individuals directed their enmity towards Latvia, the Ukrainian people, and so on, without hesitation expressing their hostile views on camera. Therefore, this initiative arose.
I also personally believe that individuals who hate Latvia, Latvians, and our country should find... a way to leave our country. And the initiative deserves consideration in the Saeima. I was surprised by the previous speakers' distress. Apparently, the Soviet mentality is still at work.”
The remark about the Soviet mentality directed at opponents of deportation sounds particularly ironic coming from those who are willing to consider such an initiative. After all, it is in the spirit of the Soviet era when dissidents (that is, in the authorities' understanding — disloyal to the state) were stripped of citizenship and deported from the country. Although, by the way, these were isolated cases.
And one more amusing point. Some deputies who voted for this initiative had recently lamented that certain parliamentarians were advocating Latvia's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention. They argued that this violates Latvia's international obligations and what the world will think of us now! But what about this provocative, unconstitutional initiative? If the initiative is “nice,” can we disregard international law?
In any case, the advancement of this initiative, that is, its referral to the commission, was supported by an actual constitutional majority — 67 deputies pressed the “for” button.
