[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 144 (Monday, October 12, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2097]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          PROGRESS FOR LATVIA

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                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 12, 1998

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, the editorial of the October 12, 1998, 
edition of The Washington Post very appropriately lauds the continued 
progress Latvia is making in perfecting its democratic form of 
government, especially as it relates to the complex and controversial 
subject of extending citizenship and civil rights to the very large 
proportion of non-citizens which reside in that country. Of the 
estimated 600,000 non-citizens in a population of 2.5 million, most of 
the non-citizens are Russian nationals who are part of or ancestors of 
the Russian populations encouraged to resettle in Latvia by the Soviets 
after their brutal subjugation of the Baltic states to implement the 
infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. Many of the Latvians 
including their president, Karlis Ulmanis, were forcibly removed to 
Siberia to fall unspeakable hardship and death.
  Despite the understandable frustration and anger among Latvians of 
their loss of independence under the domination of the Soviet Union, 
the Latvian votes commendably rejected a referendum that would have 
derailed legislation to liberalize the requirements for obtaining 
citizenship for its non-citizen residents. In a country like Latvia, 
where ethnic Latvians now make up slightly less than half of the people 
living there, Latvian voters have sensibly recognized the reality of 
the changes it must make to maintain domestic tranquility and integrate 
its citizens into a unified force to build its future and reduce one 
crucial element of controversy with its neighbor, the Russian 
Federation.
  Mr. Speaker, this Member encourages his colleagues to read the 
following editorial and to act to individually commend the Latvian 
government and voters for their good judgment, even in the face of the 
suffering and repeated provocations they have felt from the Soviet 
Union.

               [From the Washington Post, Oct. 12, 1998]

                           Latvia's Progress

       One of the great dramas of this decade has been the 
     struggle of three small Baltic countries to reestablish their 
     national identities after a half-century of Soviet 
     occupation. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are succeeding more 
     quickly and with less fuss than anyone had reason to hope. 
     Only on rare occasions of tension, such as when Russia 
     suddenly began putting the squeeze on Latvia last spring, 
     does one or another Baltic nation make a brief appearance in 
     the news. A recent referendum held in Latvia typically went 
     mostly unnoticed here.
       The Soviet government shipped so many Latvians to Siberia 
     and settled so many Russian-speakers in Latvia that when it 
     regained independence in 1991 barely half its residents were 
     ethnic Latvians. For any tiny nation trying to preserve a 
     language and culture in the shadow of a large power, this 
     would have posed a challenge; for a nation that felt it 
     barely had escaped extermination, the challenge was 
     particularly sharp. At the same time, many Latvians realized 
     they could not hope to join modern Europe unless they 
     welcomed and integrated all of their residents into their 
     society. Many realized that a large pool of disaffected 
     ethnic Russians would offer a perpetual pretext to make 
     trouble for politicians in Moscow.
       The Oct. 3 referendum concerned the rights of these 600,000 
     noncitizens (in a population of 2.5 million). In June, 
     parliament approved a liberalizing law allowing any number to 
     apply for citizenship instead of setting an annual quota. The 
     law also qualified for citizenship children born since 1991 
     to noncitizens. Latvian nationalists opposed to the law, or 
     resentful of Russian and Western pressure on the matter, 
     gathered enough signatures for a referendum. But Latvians, by 
     55 percent to 43 percent, endorsed the changes.
       Latvians still must demonstrate a sustained commitment to 
     integration through language classes and other means. Russian 
     speakers still must demonstrate their commitment to their new 
     country. But the referendum result is an important symbol of 
     Latvia's desire to join the West as a liberal democracy. Now 
     Western institutions that strongly encouraged this result, 
     and in particular the European Union, should respond by 
     accelerating Latvia's inclusion in Europe.

     

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