On Thursday, 1 November, the Saeima supported in the final reading the adoption of a new Diaspora Law to strengthen the diaspora’s ties with Latvia, rendering it an inseparable part of Latvia’s society, providing the diaspora with opportunities to freely maintain, create and expand its ties with Latvia, promoting the maintenance of Latvian language proficiency, culture and sense of belonging to Latvia, and promoting remigration.
The Law defines the diaspora as a community of Latvian citizens, nationals and other individuals, including their family members, permanently residing outside Latvia. The law also defines diaspora organisations and remigration.
According to statistical data, currently up to 15% of Latvians and Latvian nationals reside outside Latvia. The authors of the Law indicate in the annotation of the Law, that a consistent implementation of diaspora policy has an important role in the context of the aforementioned statistical data, the ageing of the population, the growing demographic pressures and the forecasted shortage of workforce.
The Law defines the tasks and main principles of diaspora policy, as well as the competence of the public administration institutions in the area of diaspora policy. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is tasked with developing and coordinating the implementation of the national diaspora policy.
According to the new Law, members and organisations of the diaspora have the right to participate in the development and implementation of diaspora policy, which includes involvement in the development of policy planning documents and legal acts, as well as participation in the Diaspora Advisory Council, which is a consultative institution established with a view to promote coordinated development of diaspora policy and annual priorities, as well as implementation and assessment of diaspora policy. The Council’s work is organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Law also defines the competence of municipalities in the area of diaspora policy, i.e. municipalities may plan and implement municipal diaspora policy, provide social, financial or other types of support to, inter alia, assist or simplify remigration.
In order to strengthen the diaspora’s ties with Latvia, the state, among other measures, provides continuous funding and methodological support for diaspora weekend schools and summer secondary schools abroad, as well as support for the diaspora children’s informal interest-related education and Latvian language learning camps in Latvia and abroad.
The Law provides a framework for governmental and municipal measures aimed at supporting diaspora members willing to return or permanently relocate to Latvia. Diaspora will also have the right to indicate their Latvian address in addition to their registered foreign address.
The Law also stipulates that in regard to levying of the personal income tax from pensions earned abroad the non-taxable threshold of the relevant country will be applied.
Long-term funding of diaspora policy is ensured from the state budget, to be adjusted to the size of the diaspora and number of activities to be supported. Additional funding may be allocated.
The Law has been drafted by a working group set up by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Saeima under the leadership of Rihards Kols, Deputy Chair of the Committee. The drafting took four months and involved representatives from 8 line ministries, as well as such diaspora organisations as The World Federation of Free Latvians, the European Latvian Association, as well as the movement “Ar pasaules pieredzi Latvijā” (Bringing Global Experience to Latvia), bringing together more than 30 high-level experts.
Saeima Press Service