114 MEPs demand Latvia to stop discrimination against the Russian language
114 European parliamentarians addressed the Prime Minister and the Seimas of Latvia. with a protest against the amendments to the Law “On Education” adopted by the Latvian Parliament, which provide for the actual elimination of education in the Russian language and require a revision of this law, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
European Deputy Andrei Mamykin reported this on his official website.
The appeal emphasizes that Russians in Latvia are one of the traditional linguistic minorities of the European Union, and the Latvian authorities must respect their rights. They recall that Article XNUMX of the Treaty on European Union states that the European Union is founded, inter alia, on respect for the rights of people belonging to national minorities. And the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Rights of National Minorities, ratified by Latvia, provides that if there is significant demand, education should be conducted in the native language.
MEPs emphasize that without a doubt such demand from Russian-speaking residents of Latvia exists.
They also note that in a 2004 European Parliament resolution adopted before Latvia joined the European Union, the European Parliament spoke about the need to preserve the teaching of a significant part of subjects in schools of national minorities and holding exams in their native language. These recommendations remain relevant to this day.
The initiators of the appeal were members of the European Parliament from Latvia Miroslav Mitrofanov and Andrey Mamykin.
“We talked with each parliamentarian who signed and talked about the current situation. The general response from colleagues is clear: “How can this happen in an EU country?” says Miroslav Mitrofanov.
In turn, his fellow MEP Andrei Mamykin said: “Among the signatories are deputies from all 28 countries of the European Union. For the first time, such a large number of deputies directly appeal to the Latvian authorities. I believe that the real face of nationalism in Latvia should not be hidden. Such beauty needs to be shown to the world.”
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