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Date Posted: 16:20:43 01/29/04 Thu
Author: Kenny Rector 2
Subject: Latvia
In reply to: Mr. Moore 's message, "Current Events" on 10:01:20 01/28/04 Wed

>Please give a summary of three stories you came across
>that you found compelling and three more headlines you
>thought important.
Latvia's Russian Minority Prohibited from Voting.
September 18, 2003

RIGA, Latvia, Sept. 18, 2003 (UPI) ELatvians head to the polls on September 20 to decide whether this small Baltic country of 2.3 million people should join the European Union (EU). However, half Latvia's 670,000-strong Russian community will be playing no part in the referendum because they fall foul of the former Soviet Republic's strict citizenship rules. Referred to as "aliens" by the authorities, the country's 340,000 Russian noncitizens—along with over 100,000 Belarussians and Ukrainians—cannot vote in elections, become civil servants, lawyers; Army officers; or hold a full Latvian passport. If voters opt to join the EU, as they are expected to by a two-to-one margin, Latvia's stateless people will also be unable to reap the full benefits of Union membership. With the exception of Denmark and neighboring Estonia and Lithuania, they will be forbidden from travelling to other EU states without a visa and barred from working legally or claiming social security abroad.
Foreign Minister Sandra Kalniete stated that the onus is on Russians to adapt to Latvian ways, not vice versa. "If they don't want to become naturalized citizens in Latvia, it would be absurd for Russians to have the right to vote on the nation's future," she told reporters. However, Aleksandr Rzavins of the Russian Society in Latvia said Russians who have been in the country for decades should not have to prove their loyalty to the fledgling state. "We are not foreigners. Most of us were born here and we consider this country our country."

From 1940—when the Soviet Union swallowed up Latvia—until 1991, tens of thousands of Russians pored into what was then the USSR's westernmost republic to work in heavy industries and take top posts in local government. The influx of workers from far-flung parts of the Soviet Union radically changed the demographic map of Latvia. Prior to World War II, Latvians comprised over three-quarters of the population, but by the end of the 1990s, they made up less than half. After Latvia split from the Soviet Union in 1991, it set about redressing the balance. Former Soviet soldiers and secret police were barred from citizenship and the Latvian Saeima (the Latvian term for parliament) adopted a law requiring all would-be citizens to take a loyalty oath and pass a test on Latvia's language, history, and constitution. To make matters worse for the country's large Russian population, the law stated that only a limited number of "aliens" could apply for citizenship at one time. Following pressure from the EU and the Russian community, the controversial law was toned down in the late 1990s, but Latvian remains the only state language and non-citizens wanting to get their hands on a passport still have to pass a language test.

Russians make up almost 30% of the total population and outnumber Latvians in the country's seven largest cities, including the capital, Riga. Latvia survived 800 years of foreign occupation—culminating in half a century of Soviet rule that saw over 340,000 Latvians persecuted, deported, or killed.

In recent years, the Latvian government has softened its hardline stance on citizenship, setting up an Integration Ministry, funding Russian schools, dropping the price of citizenship tests, and doling out passports to "aliens" born after 1991. However, this has failed to assuage the country's vociferous Russian community. "We are angry with the Latvian government and disappointed that the EU hasn't supported us in the same way it has supported other minorities," said Rzavins. In spite of recent efforts to bring the two communities closer, Latvia remains a deeply divided country as it prepares to enter the EU next May.

Half of Latvian Voters Would Approve EU Accession.
April 8, 2003

Just over 50% of Latvia's voters support membership in the European Union (EU) ahead of a September 20 referendum on EU accession, two polling companies confirmed. A recent poll by Latvijas Fakti showed that 50.3% of voters would approve membership in the organization, while another poll conducted by the SKDS Corporation showed that 50.2% of Latvian citizens would vote in favor of accession. Polls taken in the past year have shown that Latvia appears to be the most hesitant of the 10 countries expected to join the EU on May 1, 2004.


Early Polls Indicate Latvia to Join EU.
September 20, 2003

RIGA, Latvia, Sept. 20, 2003 (UPI) EEarly exit polls indicate that voters in Latvia have overwhelmingly elected to join the European Union (EU). Unofficial results of the election indicate that 69% of voters in the former Soviet Republic voted "yes," compared to 31% voting "no," the BBC reported. The addition of Latvia will expand the membership of the European bloc to 25 countries. Malta, Slovenia, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Estonia recently voted to join the EU, Cyprus opted in as well, but without a referendum.
According to the exit polls, only Daugavpils—Latvia's second largest city and a Russian-speaking strongholdagainst joining, by 52% to 48%, the BBC said. Opponents had unsuccessfully urged Latvia's 2.5 million residents not to cede any of the sovereignty they won back from the Soviet Union. Latvia lost its independence in World War II but regained it in the early 1990s with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

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  • Iran -- Negin - 2, 17:48:35 01/29/04 Thu
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