No Russian please, we’re Latvian

Anna Sonny, 23 February 2012

By Anna Sonny

Last weekend, Latvia held a referendum on making Russian the second official language. Although the motion did not go through and was never expected to, the referendum has succeeded in highlighting the cultural tensions that have existed within the fabric of Latvian society since the beginning of Soviet rule in 1940.

With two languages vying for cultural and political significance, language policy in Latvia is a complex issue and has been the cause of much friction. Russian was the lingua franca of Soviet rule, and was seen as the imposed symbol of Soviet power when Latvia was absorbed into Russia. After Latvia regained independence in 1991, Latvian became the state language and many ethnic-Russians now living in Latvia feel it is used as a tool to marginalise them. Mastery of the Latvian language is necessary for acquiring Latvian citizenship (and therefore EU citizenship), to obtain higher education and is a prerequisite of participation in political, professional and social life.

Questions surrounding national identity in Latvia are further complicated by the fact that, as a consequence of Soviet migration, ethnicity is not necessarily synonymous with native language. Most Latvians know Russian as a result of the Soviet rule, and a small percentage of Latvians declare Russian as their native tongue. Russians make up 27% of the population in Latvia. Of these, some speak Latvian, and some do not; some were born into Latvian citizenship because of their ancestors, and others have adopted it. There are, however, 300,000 ethnic-Russians in Latvia who do not hold Latvian citizenship which means they cannot vote in elections, hold public office or work in government institutions. Many pro-Russian activists say that ethnic-Russians are being discriminated against and deprived of their rights because they do not speak Latvian.

There have also been complaints about the marginalisation of Russians at the political level. In Latvia’s general election last year, the pro-Russian party Harmony Centre won the most votes but was kept out of government when Latvia’s centrist parties formed a coalition with the radical right-wing party, the National Alliance. It was this nationalist party that started a petition in an attempt to make Latvian the sole language of instruction in Latvia’s schools. The petition failed to collect enough signatures and did not force a ballot but it did trigger a response from the Russian speakers’ movement Native Tongue. The movement’s petition collected more than the necessary amount of signatures needed and initiated the referendum that was held last Saturday. Pro-Russian activists argued that using their own language at municipal level would make life easier for Russophones and would make them feel more integrated in society. Many Latvians, however, saw it as an encroachment on their cultural identity.

Given Latvia’s difficult history with the Soviet Union it was not surprising that around 75% of voters rejected elevating Russian to official Latvian language status. Despite this outcome, the referendum has served as a reminder of the complex issues surrounding language and national identity. Doubly so, when we consider that this referendum took place in an EU member state, where national languages are usually given official status on an EU level. Had the referendum resulted in a different outcome, Russian would have been a step closer to becoming an official language of the EU; as Dennis Abbot, a European Commission spokesman, noted, member states have never turned down a request by one of their peers to add a new official EU language. Furthermore, since there are currently 9 million EU citizens in the Baltic countries and south-east Europe whose mother tongue is Russian, there could be a strong argument for Russian to become an official EU language despite Russia remaining outside its borders.

Equally, becoming an official minority language does not necessarily equate with official EU language status, for example Spain and the UK are two EU member states that have recognised other languages as official minority languages (Catalan and Welsh) but have not requested that they become official languages of the EU.

With last weekend’s referendum resulting in a resounding no to Russian, it is clear that finding consensus on the status of the Russian language in Latvia will continue to be a difficult discussion. It could also, in the future, result in some difficult questions for the EU.