- Press releases
On Thursday, the 3rd of May the statements of support collected in Latvia for the Minority SafePack Initiative were handed over to the National Election Authority in Riga. With 8252 signatures collected by the Russian community, Latvia is one of the 11 states in which the threshold has been reached.
At a press conference held after the handover, FUEN President Loránt Vincze thanked the Latvian Russian Union and its co-chairmen, Yury Petropavlovsky and former MEP Tatjana Ždanoka for their contribution to the European succes of the campaign, considering that it is an important message that the Russian community took part in this unprecedented European movement for minority rights.
The Russian community from Latvia is in a particularly difficult position, as Latvia is among the states where the protection of national minorities is problematic, said Loránt Vince. The president of the FUEN criticized the refusal of Latvia to give citizenship to members of the Russian community. „It is unbelieveable that the EU somehow accepted the situation of this so-called „alien citizens” inside its borders and tries to act as this issue doesn’t exist. But everybody knows that this problem exists and should be addressed” – he said. Loránt Vincze also considered that the new education law of Latvia, which would step-by-step eradicate the mother tongue education in schools is unacceptable under any terms in the EU.
„Let me be clear: a complicated geostrategical, geopolitical situation can not justify under any circumstances anti-minority acts, acts that would take away from the minority’s existing rights. History, with all its burdens and painful acts can not justify the political decisions of today. As an organisation, the FUEN can help you with minority solidarity, and I am here to show our solidarity with the Russian community in Latvia. The Minority SafePack Initiative itself is a tool of solidarity”, he said.
„The Minority SafePack Initiative is a strong step in our struggle to be Europeans, because the Russian community of Latvia is part of the European population. We are in a situation when our government and our government parties are not ready, are not willing and able to be involved in dialogue. We see only one way to call upon the European Union to exercise pressure and have obligatory standards which would enforce the Latvian government and parliament to be at the level of real values, real Europe. Not the Europe of repressive ethnical policy, of nation states, but the Europe of all of its citizens” – said the co-charirman of the Latvian Russian Union, Yury Petropavlovsky.
