In our address, „Latvia Has Fallen”, published on our community page on September 16 this year, we shared the bad news that the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Latvia validated only 5395 statements of support, leading to Latvia dropping out of the eleven states, where the number of statements of support for the citizens’ initiative for national regions exceeded the lower threshold. We also indicated that we had asked the competent Latvian authorities for further information, and were considering a way to pursue legal remedy. On September 21 2021, we received a detailed, precise and correct response from the Central Election Commission. Their response lists the different categories of invalidated statements of support, including 775 from supporters who reside in Latvia but do not have Latvian citizenship. Validating these statements, would have been sufficient for the threshold to be reached.
Latgale (Eastern Latvia)
Our initiative was faced with what is called институт безгражданства or institút bezgraždánstva in Russian: the „institution of non-citizenship” Latvia. This is a subject we were already familiar with. The official response defines persons in this category as „citizens of the former Soviet Union who have not acquired Latvian citizenship, or citizenship of any other country”.
We emphasize that this is an issue where the Citizens’ Initiative for National Regions meets paragraph 5.2 of the Minority Safepack Citizens' Initiative, in which the initiators propose bringing the rights of "stateless persons" and their families closer to those of EU citizens.
For us, the only acceptable way to resolve the Latvian situation is through seeking legal remedy, provided our local friends and allies understand and support it.
The greatest challenge of this struggle is to make each Member State – including Latvia, Romania and Slovakia –understand, that the initiative is not directed against any state of the Union, but rather through the harmonious development of the Union, it equally serves the communities of national regions, the Member States and the whole of the EU.
Izsák Balázs
President of the Szekler National Council
Marosvásárhely, September 22, 2021
Szekler National Council