The Latvian case
ETTW contacts national parliament on draft legislation restricting the use of languages for campaigning in municipal and European elections.
Pierre-Yves Le Borgn’ says: ‘This case shows the importance of aligning forces and ideas behind the defense of European citizenship and the rights of mobile EU citizens.’
Earlier this year, ETTW expressed concern that a draft legislation under discussion in the Latvian Parliament could impact negatively the rights of mobile European citizens living in this country by limiting to Latvian only the use of languages in which campaigning for the municipal and European Parliament election could be conducted. ETTW contacted the Latvian parliament via our member organization European Latvian Association, ELA. We felt that such a restriction would run against the spirit of European citizenship and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. This effort alongside other organizations proved useful as the Latvian Parliament eventually decided to put the draft legislation on hold a few days ago. An ad hoc committee will be set up instead in order to review electoral campaigning rules. This illustrates the importance of aligning forces and ideals behind the defense of European citizenship.
Foto License: LETA/Latviesi.com