As is known, just before the municipal elections — in May of last year, the National Alliance "rolled out" a Declaration project in the Saeima aimed at strengthening the state language.
We Are Not Against Russian...
The project clearly indicated that its authors wanted to legally restrict or even ban the use of the Russian language in public spaces. Public spaces can include not only, for example, state or municipal institutions, but also shopping centers, streets, public transport, that is, everything that does not pertain to private residential property.
In response to all statements about attempts to discriminate against national minorities, supporters of strict language policies reply: "You are completely misinterpreting everything. We are not against the Russian or any other foreign language; we are for strengthening the Latvian language!".
In any case, the Saeima majority did not dare to adopt the National Alliance's Declaration. And not because they are concerned about the rights of national minorities — they simply did not want to give a gift to their competitors in the form of the National Alliance before the elections. So that they wouldn’t later shout, "We won!".
But it was also impossible to reject the project altogether — then the National Alliance would accuse other right-wing deputies of not defending the Latvian language and yielding to "pro-Russian" parties.
As a result, the deputies applied an old proven method — they voted to send the Declaration project to the Saeima's committee on education, science, and culture. The committee is "controlled" by the ruling party, which certainly will not rush to consider this document. And for the next 9 months, it indeed did not appear on the Saeima's agenda.
However, this does not mean that the ideas embedded in this Declaration have died and are not on the parliamentary agenda. A proof of the "vitality" of these ideas was an amendment recently introduced by National Alliance deputy Nauris Puntuļs. He decided to put an end to the Russian language in the service sector!
Is Communication with the Client in Russian Forbidden?
The deputy proposes to add an article "Language of Communication" to the law, establishing that communication between the consumer and the seller or service provider — the provision, servicing of information, and conclusion of contracts — is conducted in the state language.
Moreover, Puntuļs suggests establishing in the law that consumers in Latvia have the right to receive services only in the Latvian language. With rare exceptions: if the client agrees and the seller is able, negotiations can be conducted in the official languages of the EU or candidate countries for the European Union.
If this amendment is adopted in such wording, then, for example, a seller in a store or a cashier in a supermarket will not be able to communicate with a customer in Russian, even if it is the native language for both. Imagine a situation where a customer comes to a car dealership to buy a car, meaning to spend tens of thousands of euros, but the consultant at the dealership cannot even respond to the customer in Russian if they want information about the car in Russian! Absurd, you might say? And what business does the state have in the private communication of clients and service providers if the right to receive information in Latvian is guaranteed?
It is difficult to find a retail outlet in Latvia where a customer (client) would not be able to receive information in the state language. Thus, the problem of protecting the state language is resolved.
In this case, Puntuļs's amendment is aimed solely at annoying Russian-speaking residents, some of whom may have to come not only to the doctor but also to the store with a translator. And even if the client speaks Latvian, why does the state want to interfere in their private communication with the seller (service provider)? In what country is something like this possible?
Of course, it will be interesting to see how the majority of deputies react to this masterpiece of an amendment. In a slightly modified form, it might even be adopted. Just as last week, they adopted in the final reading an amendment prohibiting teachers from using any language other than Latvian while performing their official duties in communication with students.
Another deputy from the National Alliance, Artūrs Butāns, recently proposed to legally prohibit even indicating in advertisements the need for proficiency in Russian — even if a private company has an objective need for a specialist who speaks Russian.
No Cinema?
In the Saeima committee, there is also an amendment from the National Alliance waiting for its moment regarding the prohibition of Russian subtitles for films in cinemas.
Let us remind you that this parliamentary session has already dealt with the Russian language in ATMs and allowed medical professionals not to communicate with patients in Russian.
And deputies again from the National Alliance submitted amendments that would prohibit communication in any language other than the state language for employees of state and municipal institutions. This applies not only to communication with visitors but also between themselves.
Let us also remind you that starting this year, books and periodicals in Russian are deprived of the preferential VAT rate and are subject to the standard rate of 21 percent.
