Press Review

Diena journalist Aivars Ozolins criticizes the new draft Language Law in today's (Oct.23) issue of the paper. He focuses on the provisions of the draft Law that restrict universally recognized human rights. Among such provisions is a requirement for a mandatory use of the Latvian language in private businesses, during public gatherings and in "all other public domains" . The author points to other requirements that he calls "stupid". These include a demand for all consumer product tag information to be solely in Latvian. Diena

Yesterday Baltic Council Commissioner Ole Espersen and Chairman of the Saeima Committee on Science, Culture and Education Dzintars Abikis reached an agreement on the draft Language Law. The sides agreed that the draft Law would be considered by the Council of Europe and the OSCE Mission to Latvia after it was prepared for the second reading. Chas

Baltic Council Commissioner Ole Espersen in an interview for Diena explained the attention paid to the draft Language Law by the fact that the Law contained provisions stipulating the use of languages in private businesses, interfering with private life and restricting the freedom of speech. The provisions, if implemented, would impede the harmonization of the Latvian society, believes Mr. Espersen. He referred to his meeting with the Head of the Saeima Committee on Science, Education and Culture on the issue two years ago. Mr. Espresen is surprised that the draft Law still remains not amended. He had another meeting with the Head of the Committee (Mr. Abikis) yesterday (Oct.23). Mr. Espersen stressed that the draft Law should undergo basic changes. In his interview Mr. Espersen said that current processes in Latvia were not aimed at integration but rather at assimilation and discord. The Language Law, if adopted in its current form would be another serious obstacle to Latvia’ s progress toward European Union membership. Diena

Chairman of the Saeima Committee on Science, Culture and Education Dzintars Abikis in an interview for "SM" said that he did not believe that the Language Law in its final version would contradict international human rights instruments. Mr. Abikis supports granting of citizenship to all children born in independent Latvia and believes that other suggested amendments to the Citizenship Law need thorough consideration. He admitted that two isolated communities (Latvian and Russian-speaking) had formed in Latvia. Still, Mr. Abikis believes that the language barrier will be disappearing gradually with more Russian youths mastering the Latvian language. He supports a gradual transition to the teaching of several courses in the Latvian language in Russian-language schools. Mr. Abikis suggested that in ten years half of the courses could be read in Latvian. SM