The President of Latvia presents the draft law “On the Termination of the Granting of Non-citizen Status to Children”
President of Latvia Raimonds Vējonis presented the draft law “On the Termination of the Granting of Non-citizen Status to Children” to the Saeima envisaging the termination of the granting of non-citizen status to the children of non-citizens born after 1 June 2020 and their recognition as citizens of Latvia unless the parents of the child agree to grant the citizenship of another country to the child, and the child is not a citizen of any other country.
“Every child born in Latvia must have a certain nationality. The state must create the conditions that do not allow further granting of non-citizen status, because the original aim of introducing non-citizen status has never been to keep it for an indefinite period. It was set as a temporary status for a person to acquire Latvian citizenship in time or to choose another country with which to strengthen his or her legal relationship,” noted the President of Latvia.
In the annotation of the draft law, the President of Latvia stated, “Terminating the granting of non-citizen status to children is a symbolic step that will allow stopping deliberate divergence and purposeful division of different groups of Latvia’s society. Termination of the granting of non-citizen status will allow our society to become more connected and put efforts to the development of our country.”
The President of Latvia draws attention to the fact that Amendments to the Education Law and the General Education Law adopted by the Saeima are promulgated on 2 April 2018, which envisage the transition to general secondary education only in the national language. Following the introduction of these laws and the end of the transition period, there should be no doubt about the ability of the Latvian education system to train and bring up decent, honest, and responsible people who are patriots of Latvia and who have a strong affiliation to the Republic of Latvia.
The draft law does not apply to people who were born and acquired non-citizen status before 1 January 2020. The Law on the Status of the Former USSR Citizens without Latvian or Other Nationality and the opportunities of naturalization and recognition as a citizen provided for in the Citizenship Law shall continue to apply to those individuals.
According to the data of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, 74 children were registered as non-citizens in 2014, 77 children in 2015, 47 children in 2016, 51 children in 2017, and 33 children in 2018.
The President of Latvia presents the draft law “On the Termination of the Granting of Non-citizen Status to Children”
President of Latvia Raimonds Vējonis presented the draft law “On the Termination of the Granting of Non-citizen Status to Children” to the Saeima envisaging the termination of the granting of non-citizen status to the children of non-citizens born after 1 June 2018 and their recognition as citizens of Latvia unless the parents of the child agree to grant the citizenship of another country to the child, and the child is not a citizen of any other country.
In the annotation of the draft law, the President of Latvia states that the adoption of the draft law will promote the further development of a united society based on the common values of the people of Latvia. The President of Latvia recalled that the status of a non-citizen was introduced as a temporary solution for the transition from an occupied country to an independent Latvia. Following a similar change in legislation in Estonia, new non-citizens are born in Latvia as the only country in Europe, whose status is comparable to the citizens of former USSR, who did not obtain any other citizenship after the collapse of the USSR.
Following the adoption of the draft law, the change would apply to approximately 50 to 80 new-borns per year. In 2016, 52 children were granted non-citizen status. The draft law is in line with Latvia’s international obligations undertaken by the Republic of Latvia in ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The President of Latvia calls for legislative amendments to arrange the school network
In his letter to the Madam Speaker of the Saeima, the President of Latvia urged to develop the necessary amendments to the General Education Law in order to create a legal basis for the continuation of reforms in general education and the necessary preconditions for the adjustment of the network of general education institutions.
The President of Latvia has urged the Saeima to supplement Article 7 of the General Education Law with a new regulation providing that when reorganising or winding-up a general education institution, the quality indicators of education acquired at a general education institution (results of centralised examinations and other assessments of learners’ achievements) shall be taken into account and the interests of the national and local population. In its turn, by reorganising or winding-up a municipal general education institution, the number of local residents, demographic forecasts, access to education in the municipality and neighbouring municipalities are taken into consideration additionally.
The President of Latvia also calls for consideration to be given to the competence of the Cabinet of Ministers provided for in the General Education Law by supplementing Article 4 thereof with the right of the Cabinet of Ministers to determine the minimum number of students in form 10 and in the group of forms 10 to 12 in general education institutions (except boarding schools and special education institutions), taking into account the same criteria to be assessed when reorganising or winding-up a general education institution.
Proposed legislation of the President of Latvia on the Council for the Judiciary
President of Latvia Raimonds Vējonis called for necessary amendments to the law to strengthen the powers, capacity, and management of the Council for the Judiciary in his letter to the Madam Speaker of the Saeima on 14 June 2016. The proposed legislation is based on a report of the Commission for Legal Environment Improvement of the President of Latvia of 24 May 2016 regarding opportunities for improvement of the work of the Council for the Judiciary.
President of Latvia has called on the Saeima to base drafting of similar amendments to the Law “On Judiciary” on the report of the Commission for Legal Environment Improvement. Such amendments to the law would allow the provision of better preconditions for the ability of the Council for the Judiciary to influence the development of the judicial system significantly and would promote certainty of the legal environment and public trust in the judiciary.
The President of Latvia submitted a draft law “Amendments to the National Security Law”
The President of Latvia submitted a draft law “Amendments to the National Security Law” to the Saeima for consideration aimed at improvement of the regulation of action of senior officials and authorities of the state in the event of external threat so that they could prevent threats to independence of the country, its constitutional order and territorial integrity more efficiently. The draft law includes a definition of wartime and states that the Commander in Chief as a legitimate state power body for wartime is only empowered to act if the Cabinet of Ministers is delayed to perform their function due to the reasons caused by national threat and there is an urgent need to adopt appropriate decisions on national defence. Also, the draft law provides that subjects of the national security system cannot be prohibited to execute their duties under the National Security Law to respond to military aggression immediately.
Law adopted by the Saeima “Amendments to the National Security Law”
The President submitted a draft law “Amendments to the Law on the National Armed Forces”
The President of Latvia submitted a draft law “Amendments to the Law on the National Armed Forces” to the Saeima for consideration. The amendment aims at ensuring fast and efficient cooperation and exchange of information between the Cabinet of Ministers and management of the National Armed Forces in the event of war or a state of exception to overcome the national threat and eliminate its consequences. The draft law provides that the Commander of the National Armed Forces or his authorised person participate in the meetings of the Cabinet of Ministers in an advisory capacity during a state of war or a state of exception.
The President submitted a draft law “Amendments to the Law on the Structure of the Cabinet of Ministers”
The President of Latvia submitted a draft law “Amendments to the Law on the Structure of the Cabinet of Ministers” to the Saeima for consideration. The amendment to the Law on the Structure of the Cabinet of Ministers will enable to ensure decisive action of the Cabinet of Ministers in the event of a national threat. For dynamic response under situations of national threat and provision of operational flow of information and decision-making, the draft law shall enable the Cabinet of Ministers to make decisions during a state of war or a state of exception if the Prime Minister and at least three other Members of the Cabinet attend the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers.
Law adopted by the Saeima “Amendments to the Law on the Structure of the Cabinet of Ministers”