Berzins: automatic citizenship for non-citizens is not the right solution

  • 2012-09-04

Andris Berzins.

RIGA - Latvian President Andris Berzins does not support automatic citizenship for all non-citizens, however, he believes that the problem of non-citizens requires an urgent solution, as Berzins said in an interview with the LNT morning show “900 sekundes” today.

It is abnormal that, twenty years since the restoration of independence, there are several hundred thousand citizens in Latvia. This problem needs a solution, however, the "non-citizen referendum" is not the right way to solve it.

It has to be established how many non-citizens actually want to become citizens of Latvia, said Berzins, adding that to a part of non-citizens, their current status was a privilege, not a restriction.

Whether to organize a referendum on the proposed amendments will be decided by the Central Election Commission, added Berzins.

As reported, more than 12,000 signatures have been collected for a referendum on granting Latvian citizenship to all non-citizens of Latvia. The "For Equal Rights" movement plans to submit the signatures to the Central Election Commission today.