Press Review

OSCE High Commissioner van der Stoel at his press-conference at the Riga Airport stressed that the press had exaggerated the differences in opinions expressed during his meeting with President Ulmanis. He referred to his talks with the President as "an open and constructive conversation". Mr. van der Stoel said that he supported a special role of the Latvian language in the independent state of Latvia. Still he pointed to certain provisions in the new draft Language Law regulating the application of languages in a private domain that do not comply with international conventions acceded by Latvia. The High Commissioner hopes that the current reading of the draft Law will be amended as promised by the Chairman of the Saeima Committee on Education and Science Mr. Abikis. Mr. van der Stoel also hopes that the change of public opinion on citizenship issues will as well influence the opinion of Latvian politicians. He has already suggested granting of Latvian citizenship to children born in independent Latvia and discussed the prospect with Latvian politicians. Five years of parents' residence in Latvia and their application could be the basis for granting citizenship to children born in Latvia. The High Commissioner stressed that those children would be educated in Latvia, would know Latvian and would integrate in the country's society. The High Commissioner said that he was aware of the agreement between the governing that would not allow to implement his recommendations and stressed that the recommendations and views would be understood correctly. Yesterday OSCE High Commissioner van der Stoel met representatives of the Socialist faction. According to Party Chairman Mr. Stroganov, the High Commissioner showed a profound understanding of the situation in Latvia and promised to follow the development of Rubiks' case. Diena, SM, B&B

Member of "Tevzemei un Brivibai"/LNNK faction Mr. Aigars Jirgens suggests that preserving "status quo" is the best compromise solution for the Citizenship Law problem. He believes the current discussion of possible amendments to the Citizenship Law to be undemocratic since politicians are ignoring the opinion clearly expressed by a considerable part of Latvian citizens who supported a stricter Law in a "TB" opinion poll. A large part of citizens would like naturalization criteria to be even stricter than they are now. He stresses that "TB"/LNNK has never hoped to integrate the entire non-Latvian population in the country's society and has always supported repatriation of non-citizens. Mr. Jirgens sees naturalization as "the final product of naturalization" and opposes this view to the opinion of citizenship as a bass for an individual's loyalty to Latvia and his or her integration to the society. Diena