Honouring of obligations and commitments by Latvia

Doc. 9044

20 April 2001

Honouring of obligations and commitments by Latvia

Recommendation 1490 (2001)

Reply from the Committee of Ministers

adopted at the 750^th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies (18 April 2001)

1. In general, the Committee of Ministers shares the Parliamentary Assembly’s positive appreciation of the substantial progress achieved by Latvia in fulfilling its commitments and obligations as a member state of the Council of Europe, as referred to in Recommendation 1490 (2001).

2. The Committee of Ministers wishes to inform the Parliamentary Assembly that at its 740^th meeting, on 7 February 2001, it took note of Resolution 1236 (2001) on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Latvia, to which Recommendation 1490 (2001) refers. The Committee of Ministers took, in particular, note of the fact that the Parliamentary Assembly’s monitoring procedure regarding Latvia is closed, while, with respect to issues listed in paragraph 5 of the Resolution, the Assembly will continue its post-monitoring dialogue with the Latvian authorities.

3. As regards specific issues included in Recommendation 1490 (2001), as well as in paragraph 5 of Parliamentary Assembly Resolution 1236 (2001), the Committee of Ministers would like to inform the Parliamentary Assembly of the following:

4. Extensive co-operation was developed with Latvia well before its accession to the Council of Europe and has been intensified following membership. However, in recent years, the level of co-operation has been gradually reduced in line with the progress achieved in Latvia and the necessity to concentrate financial resources on priority regions of South-eastern Europe and the Caucasian countries.

5. In its co-operation activities with Latvia, the Committee of Ministers, in view of the proportion of non-citizens in the population, paid particular attention to their integration and notably to the issues of citizenship and state language. In this context, the Council of Europe and the European Commission have implemented two successive Joint Programmes over the years 1995 to 1998, with a total budget of 860.000€. Activities implemented under these programmes concentrated on the language and history testing and support to the activities of the Latvian Naturalisation Board. The Committee of Ministers is convinced that these activities have played an important role in facilitating the naturalisation process in the country. While taking note of the Parliamentary Assembly’s appreciation that significant progress has been made in the naturalisation process, the Committee of Ministers considers that further efforts are necessary to produce more results in this field. The Committee of Ministers encourages the non-citizen population to take advantage of all opportunities to learn the state language and to apply for Latvian citizenship.

6. Following the end of the European Commission/Council of Europe Joint Programmes, co-operation has been pursued, although at a more modest level, thanks to voluntary contributions from several member states. The Committee of Ministers stands ready to support Latvia’s efforts wherever required, provided the resources are available.

7. Council of Europe co-operation programmes have also concentrated on teaching and learning of the Latvian language, as a factor of integration of the population, through the production of pedagogical instruments (‘threshold level’), training of teachers and other forms of assistance to the National Programme for Latvian Language training. In this respect, the Committee of Ministers takes note of the Parliamentary Assembly’s call for further financial and technical assistance to Latvia for the National Programme for Latvian Language Training and the agencies implementing the National Programme for the Integration of Society.

8. Concerning national minorities, in co-operation with the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, the Council of Europe has provided expertise, notably on the state Language legislation and implementing regulations. In this context, mention can be made of the closing Conference of the European Commission/Council of Europe Joint Programme on the protection of national minorities with the participation of representatives of Governmental Offices for minorities from all countries of Central and Eastern Europe, which was organised in Riga at the invitation of the Latvian authorities in June 2000. Continued co-operation with the authorities concerns, inter alia, training of relevant officials responsible for the implementation of the legislation and regulations, in particular as regards applicable human rights standards of the Council of Europe. The Council of Europe has moreover offered further co-operation and expertise to prepare for the ratification of the Framework Convention for the protection of National Minorities (Parliamentary Assembly Resolution 1236 (2001), paragraph 5 i.) and in the elaboration of relevant legislation. The Latvian authorities are encouraged to ratify the Framework Convention as a matter of priority, and to amend and implement legislation accordingly.

9. With regard to the National Programme for the Integration of Society, referred to in paragraph 2 iii. of Recommendation 1490 (2001), a seminar was organised in Riga, in 2000, in the framework of the aforementioned Joint Programme, focusing on the implementation of such Programmes in the Baltic region.

10. As regards the European Social Charter [paragraph 5 vi. of Resolution 1236 (2001)], which was signed by Latvia in 1997, the Secretariat is implementing co-operation activities in the context of a European Commission/Council of Europe Joint Programme for the promotion of the European Social Charter to prepare for its ratification.

11. Latvia has been an important beneficiary of the Confidence-building measures Programme. A substantial number of projects aimed at the integration of minorities, largely complementing the action undertaken in the context of the two European Commission/Council of Europe Joint programmes, for instance regarding teaching of language and history, have been financially supported by the CBM programme. At present, due to the concentration of budgetary resources on projects from South-eastern Europe, a limited number of projects from Latvia are being implemented through voluntary contributions. In 2000, 3 projects were financed by voluntary contributions, for example: a series of radio programmes on integration, a project on the promotion of the naturalisation of non-citizens and a TV programme promoting journalists discussions on minority issues in Latvia.

12. Moreover, as regards paragraph 2 i. of Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1490 (2001), note can be taken of the fact that the Committee of Ministers, within the framework of its thematic monitoring procedure, has decided to look into issues of ‘non-discrimination, with emphasis on the fight against intolerance and racism’.

13. In conclusion, the Committee of Ministers stressed Latvia’s constant willingness to co-operate with the Council of Europe. This co-operation has certainly been instrumental in the progress achieved in some of the most delicate issues. The Committee of Ministers encourages the Latvian authorities to make further progress on all the above matters.