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Municipal deputies who have been prompted by the Latvian State Language Centre to improve their state language proficiency to reach an appropriate level, will have to do so at their own expense, according to amendments to the Law on the Status of the Deputy of the Republic City Council and Municipality Council, adopted in the final reading by the Saeima on Thursday, 13 February.

As stated in the summary of the Law, the amendments provide that municipalities will no longer be obliged to cover the language learning expenses for deputies, thus helping save municipal budget funds.

Deputies with insufficient knowledge of the state language will have a six month term to improve their proficiency, followed by one month to retake the language examination.

According to the amendments, the Latvian State Language Centre will have to submit an application to district (city) court on the revocation of the deputy’s mandate if the deputy fails to appear at the repeat examination in state language without a valid reason. The mandate will also be revoked if the deputy’s state language skills are proven insufficient after a repeat examination. The Cabinet has established that a municipal deputy shall have C1 level state language proficiency.

In the summary, the authors of the amendments state that these changes have been proposed to raise the accountability of municipal deputy candidates and parties providing self-evaluation of state language proficiency prior to elections.

Previously, the Latvian State Language Centre, having tested a municipal deputy’s language proficiency, would inform the chair of the respective council about the deputy’s insufficient state language skills and request the deputy to improve them. A specific term for retaking the language examination was not set.

Saeima Press Service