Requiring business and government employees to speak Russian is absurd in a country where the official language is Latvian, and that’s why the head of a leading diaspora organization says the group is unhappy with the Saeima’s recent decision to not amend the Labor Law.

In a Feb. 7 letter to Saeima Chairperson Solvita Aboltiņa and to party officials, Mārtinš Sausiņš of the World Federation of Free Latvians (Pasaules brīvo latviešu apvienība, or PBLA) expressed regret at the parliament’s failure to consider amendments that would have strengthened the status of the Latvian language.

The Saeima on Feb. 3 rejected the amendments proposed by the National Association (Nacionālā apvienība “Visu Latvijai!” – “Tēvzemei un Brīvībai/LNNK”) that would have restricted employers’ ability to require employees to be able to speak a foreign language.

“Asking employees in state offices and businesses, where the only official language is the Latvian language, seems, in our opinion, disproportionate and absurd,” Sausiņš wrote. He added that the PBLA urges the Saeima to revist the issue soon.

Increasingly, employees are being asked to have foreign language skills, usually Russian, even when it appears the job has nothing to do with providing services to foreign clients, according to the National Assocation’s proposal. The result is linguistic discrimination against those Latvian residents who do not speak Russian, meaning that they cannot find jobs in many businesses and government offices, especially in areas of high Russian-speaking populations.

Under the proposed amendments, employers would have been barred from disproportiately requiring specific foreign language skills. Foreign languages that are official languages within in the European Union—and those do not include Russian—could be required only if job duties could not be performed without that skill.

Non-EU official languages, including Russian, would have been allowed only in situations and professions defined by the Cabinet of Ministers.

Speaking to the Saeima on Feb. 3 in support of the legislation, MP Inese Laizāne of the National Association noted that a high percentage of ethnic Latvian youth are not learning Russian. Because they cannot find jobs without that skill, they are forced to look for work abroad.

Ainārs Šlesers, leader of the For a Good Latvia! (Par labu Latviju!) party, countered her by arguing that the real question is how to help Latvians become competitive in the employment market. He noted that in tourism and the transit business multilingualism is an important job skill.

Forcing employers to take on workers who know just one language is not a solution, Šlesers suggested.

“In a small country we should establish a policy that, when they finish school, young people know at least three languages,” he said.

On a 34-32 vote, with 22 MPs abstaining, the Saeima rejected a motion to send the legislation to the Social and Labor Affairs Commission, thereby ending consideration of the bill.

President Valdis Zatlers has joined the push for changes in Latvia’s citizenship law, telling the Saeima that it should remove the prohibition against dual citizenship to help people maintain ties to the homeland.

In a nine-page letter to Saeima Chairwoman Solvita Āboltiņa, Zatlers on Feb. 1 outlined the arguments for why Latvia’s citizenship law should be amended.

Zatlers also said Latvia should ease the path to citizenship for children born to stateless persons and non-citizens living in the country.

The president’s letter focuses on the principle of state continuity and on the need to consider Latvia’s place in the world.

“Now, when more than 15 years have gone by since passage of the Citizenship Law, when a new generation has grown up that was born in the independent Republic of Latvia, when Latvia has become a member of the world’s most influential unions and organizations of states, I think the time has come to improve the Citizenship Law in accordance with the state’s long-term interests,” Zatlers writes.

Specifically, the president asks the parliament to allow dual citizenship for exiles and their descendants. The change would affect those who left Latvia between June 17, 1940 (the start of the first Soviet occupation), and May 4, 1990, when Latvia declared independence from the Soviet Union. Under the citizenship law’s transitional rules, up to July 1995 it was possible for exiles and their descendants to register as Latvian citizens without having to give up citizenship in another country. Nearly 31,000 persons became dual citizens before the deadline, according to the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (Pilsonības un migrācijas lietu pārvalde) in Rīga. Since then, persons wanting to become Latvian citizens have had to renounce their citizenship in other countries.

Zatlers said it is unfair to the exiles and their descendants to prohibit dual citizenship.

“Every time I meet with exiles in Latvia or abroad, they talk to me about this unfair restriction,” the president writes in his letter. In recent years, frequent comments have been heard from Latvians abroad that they either did not know about the 1995 deadline or could not complete the process in time. The World Federation of Free Latvians (Pasaules brīvo latviešu apvienība) has made the dual citizenship question among its top issues in talks with Latvian politicians and government officials.

Zatlers also asks amendments to the law to allow dual citizenship for those Latvian residents who now are citizens of countries that are members of the European Union, the NATO defense alliance (including the U.S. and Canada) and the European Free Trade Association. This could affect tens of thousands of Latvian citizens who in recent years have migrated to Ireland, the United Kingdom and other European countries.

Finally, the president’s letter argues that changes need to be made to make it easier for children of stateless persons and non-citizens to become Latvian citizens. The change would largely affect the Russian-speaking minority in Latvia. While Latvian law since 1998 allows the children to become citizens, it has been up to the parents to take responsibility for submitting documentation to complete the process. Under Zatlers’ suggested amendment, the children would automatically become citizens. If they so choose, the parents—or the child upon reaching age 15—could then apply to renounce the child’s Latvian citizenship.

Zatlers’ letter comes on the heels of two other recent efforts to change the citizenship law.

In October, during the last weeks of the 9th Saeima, members of the Unity (Vienotība) bloc introduced legislation to allow dual citizenship. However, the bill failed to find support.

On Jan. 24, the National Association (Nacionālā apvienība “Visu Latvijai!” – “Tēvzemei un Brīvībai/LNNK”) introduced its take on changes to the citizenship law, several of which are similar to the president’s proposal. While Zatlers in his letter applauds the effort, he notes what he sees as shortcomings in the bill, including questions related to dual citizenship for children and for persons who become citizens of another country through marriage.

The National Association’s bill to amend the citizenship law has been referred to the Saeima’s Law Commission.

The government of Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis also has promised that it would propose changes to the citizenship law.

The Latvian American Business Association of California (LABACA) has opened an office in Silicon Valley, the group announced Jan. 31.

The office, located in the Plug and Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale, Calif., is part of the association’s efforts to link technology-related businesses in Silicon Valley and Northern Europe, especially Latvia.

LABACA is a non-profit organization formed in August to foster cooperation between U.S. and Latvian intellectual and financial resources to form a high-tech “ecosystem.” It particularly aims to popularize Latvia’s information and communication technology sector.

“I am confident that the Plug and Play Tech Center community is the right place to initiate exposure and networking for Latvian startups,” Richard Grant Gailums, a LABACA board member, said in a press release. “I anticipate that the Plug and Play community and its valued partners, like Silicon Valley Bank, Greenberg Traurig, Berger Lewis and others will help create long-term relationships for successful high-growth young businesses from Latvia.”

The Sunnyvale facility is one of a half-dozen locations run by the Plug and Play Tech Center. Formed in 2006, Plug and Play now hosts more than 200 start-up companies in California. It also works with the companies to secure funding.

The office in Silicon Valley will help LABACA accomplish a number of goals, according to the press release. They include:

• Creation in Silicon Valley of a base of Latvian high tech companies, projects and ideas.
• Bringing innovative ideas from Latvia and Northern Europe to Silicon Valley, enabling transformation and exchange between economies.
• Using the Silicon Valley ecosystem, “business angels” and venture capital for launching Latvian startups.
• Transferring Internet security solutions to the United States from Europe and particularly Latvia.

In addition to opening the Silicon Valley office, LABACA in recent months met with Jared Cohen, head of Google’s think tank, and co-sponsored a conference in Rīga for Latvian iPhone application developers.

Further information about LABACA is available on the association’s website, www.labaca.org.