Letland verscherpt wetten voor burgerschap (en)

Latvia on Tuesday (8 August) introduced new stricter laws for granting citizenship, refusing to grant it to those failing a Latvian language test three times.

Latvia regained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. During the Russian occupation, Latvians were deported from the country and Russians shipped in by Moscow in an attempt to "Russify" the Baltic state. Some 450,000 ethnic Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians currently live in Latvia. Many of them were born in the country, but are being denied citizenship unless they pass a Latvian language test and take an oath of loyalty to the state.

The group, which represents almost 20 per cent of the country's population, cannot vote, cannot hold most types of public posts and requires a visa to visit other EU countries, except for Estonia, Lithuania and Denmark. The new rules are set to make the naturalisation process more difficult as the exams are more difficult.

"Quite a lot of people come to the language exam without any preparation," Liga Lukso, spokeswoman for the naturalisation board, told AFP news agency. "It shows their lack of serious attitude towards Latvian citizenship." Many non-citizens who were born in Latvia refuse to take the test on the grounds that it is degrading, while others are too old and infirm to complete the examination. The new amendments to the Latvian law will come into force this year.

A second EU country with a similar category of non-citizens is neighbouring Estonia. Together Latvia and Estonia have more than half a million stateless persons.