Resumen de Language Policy in Latvia
Latvia has been accepted in the European "club" the 1st May 2004. To fulfill the European criteria, Latvia has been forced to change some of its provisions about citizenship. The linguistic legislation, which is another pillar of the juridical system, and which tends to create a monolingual society (at least in the public sphere) has been also declared totally legitimate.
The (re)building of one Nation State must foresee a system where the founding nation is prevailing on the others, nevertheless minorities must be protected and respected. The author of this essay justifies the linguistic measures, enshrined in the State Language Law of 1999 and in the Reform of Education of 1998 and criticizes the citizenship provisions (though they have been bettered) which exclude many legal residents from the political decision-making.
