Expulsion, language of broadcasting and language of conversation during breaks at school: the 'pre-election' agenda in the Saeima of Latvia 0 9

A Very Important Position!

The chairperson of the parliamentary commission essentially unilaterally determines the agenda for the commission's meetings! They can place a particular bill submitted to the commission on the agenda immediately, or even 'out of turn', or they can 'shelve' a bill for as long as the current parliament's term lasts! There is no need to look far for loud examples in this regard.

For instance, the head of the Saeima's Foreign Affairs Commission, Ināra Mūrniece (National Alliance), placed the bill on exiting the Istanbul Convention on the agenda for the next commission meeting at the end of last year! Meanwhile, the amendments to the Constitution regarding the traditional family, which are unfavorable to the ruling party and were approved in the zero reading, have been 'gathering dust' on the shelf of the Saeima's Education, Science and Culture Commission for six months, as it is headed by a representative of 'New Unity'.

To Strip Citizenship and Expel

So today, as you read this issue of the newspaper, the Defense and Internal Affairs Commission will consider the 'most important' public initiative to strip citizenship and expel disloyal residents of Latvia from the country! Let us remind you that this initiative has barely gathered 10,000 signatures over three years and thus 'made its way' to parliament. The paradox is that all the experts invited to the parliamentary commission for the initial discussion of this initiative unanimously stated: expelling Latvian citizens is impossible, as citizens have the right to return to the country.

Representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ombudsman’s Office emphasized that stripping citizenship is a serious infringement on an individual's fundamental rights and pointed out Latvia's international obligations. One cannot strip citizenship from a person who does not have another citizenship and could thus become stateless.

If It’s Not Allowed, But I Really Want To

So, everything seems clear: international law, the Constitution, and European standards do not allow stripping a person of their only citizenship and, even more so, expelling them somewhere. However, the absurd initiative was given the green light — it was forwarded for substantive consideration in the Saeima commission. Moreover, 67 people voted for this decision!

Many parliamentarians believed that this provocative initiative would be buried in the commission, but as you can see, the chairperson of the commission, Raimonds Bergmanis (United List), decided to begin substantive consideration of it. What goal did Mr. Bergmanis pursue?

Version one — he decided to consider it quickly, before the start of the active election campaign, and 'kill' this initiative — for example, by sending it for analysis to the government (read — to the Ministry of Justice).

Version two — to attempt to launch this initiative by transforming it into some amendments to the Citizenship Law. The second version is quite dubious for the reasons already mentioned — it does not comply with international standards and the Constitution.

Not a Sound in Russian

But, as they say, 'not just by expulsion alone' — the agenda of the Saeima has plenty of other issues within the framework of the prematurely started election campaign. During the winter session, the Saeima is also supposed to adopt in the final reading amendments to the Education Law that will prohibit teachers from using any language other than Latvian when communicating with each other and with students.

The question arises: does this mean that either in the school corridor, or in the cloakroom, or in the classroom during breaks, a teacher will not be able to communicate with a student in their native language if that language is not Latvian? The answer is obvious: they will not be able to, since even during breaks, the teacher remains a teacher, meaning they continue to fulfill their official duties.

The amendments propose to place personal responsibility for the enforcement of these language requirements on the head of the educational institution.

And You Can’t Even on a Private Radio Station?!

The chairperson of the National Council for Electronic Media, Ivars Aboliņš, also decided to contribute to the fight against the Russian language in public space. He prepared amendments to the law that would allow for the non-renewal of broadcasting licenses for Russian-language private radio stations.

"It is necessary to stop broadcasting radio stations in Russian. The NCEM today submitted a proposal to the Saeima that, upon the expiration of existing broadcasting permits, they would only be reissued for broadcasting in Latvian.

Radio frequency is a valuable state resource, and the state should not support its use for broadcasting in Russian.

Thus, gradually, over eight years, broadcasting in Russian on the radio would be phased out. Moreover, this is the only legal way to do this. We hope for the support of the Saeima," the head of the Council wrote on social media X.

Given the pre-election mood of the deputies, it can be assumed that the majority of the parliament will vote for this initiative. In any case, the deputies of 'New Unity', the National Alliance, and the United List will surely approve this democratic proposal from Mr. Aboliņš.

What Else Is to Come!

Let us not forget that a project of a rather ambiguous Declaration from the National Alliance, which provides for restrictions on the use of the Russian language in public places, has been submitted to the Saeima commission.

The National Alliance's proposals to ban the use of any language other than the state language by state and municipal officials in communication with each other and with visitors are also waiting for their turn in the parliamentary commission.

The agenda also includes a question about banning advertisements in any language other than Latvian on commercial radio stations and TV... It is likely that amendments from the National Alliance regarding the prohibition of Russian subtitles in cinemas will also be considered before the end of this Saeima's term.