Latvian-Russian border treaty passes legal hurdle

  • 2007-05-11
  • From wire reports
The Latvian Constitutional Court on May 10 rejected the request of the opposition New Era party to suspend the ratification of the Latvian-Russian border treaty before the court has ruled legitimacy of the treaty, the court reported.

Constitutional Court chairman Gunars Kutris told the press that the decision had been made because the court is not allowed to interfere with legislative procedures, therefore the court is not entitled to suspend the ratification process.

"The parliament and citizens have the legislative rights. The Constitution Court may only probe legitimacy of the laws, but cannot state which laws should be discussed by Parliament and when they should be adopted," said Kutris.

The border treaty will take effect after its ratification in the Latvian and Russian parliaments and both sides have exchanged ratification documents.

The Latvian-Russian border treaty was signed in Moscow on March 27. In mid-April, Latvian lawmakers approved in the first reading of its ratification of the border treaty with Russia.