If a Member does not know the national language sufficiently, administrative fines are the only tool available to the State Language Center (VVC).
Aleksejs Rosļikovs, chairman of the board of the For Stability! party, told LSM.lv that he is not worried about these fines:
"We are sympathetic, there is no obligation for a member of the Parliament of the Republic of Latvia to go to such [language] inspections, but we go, we talk."
Asked to clarify how this could not be an obligation when it is precisely for failure to fulfill the duties of a public official that deputies have been subject to administrative fines, Rosļikovs said: "It is a debatable issue."
An administrative penalty has been imposed on MP Jefimijs Klementjevs for not using the official language to the extent necessary for the performance of his professional and official duties. The decision entered into force on August 14, 2024. Viktors Pučka was fined for failure to comply with a lawful request of an official or obstruction of an official, the decision has been appealed, Madara Rēķe, Deputy Director and Head of the Language Control Department of the VVC, told LSM.lv.
According to Rēķe, Klementjevs came for a language test, spoke with the Center's representatives, and the Center confirmed that Klementjevs was not using the state language to the prescribed extent.
Asked what action is taken if a Member of Parliament fails to pass a test on the use of the national language, the NVC spokesperson said, "We can punish repeatedly, but we have to respect reasonable periods of time when we give a person the opportunity to improve his use of the language. The obligation is to remedy the offense - to learn the national language and use it in everyday life. Of course, it is up to each person to decide how to remedy the infringement, within how short or long a timeframe; no other action on our part follows."
Soon after the 14th Saeima began its work in the autumn of 2022, the VVC received four complaints about "For Stability!" and invited them to undergo a national language test. None of them turned up, so the Center imposed an administrative fine.
Klementjevs and Pučka paid the fines immediately, but two other party members, MPs Nataļja Marčenko-Jodko and Dmitrijs Kovaļenko, appealed to the court against the decision of the VVC that they had not complied with the legal requirements of an official, but the Court's decision was not in their favor. At the time, Klementjevs admitted to the portal Delfi that he had paid a fine of €280.
LSM.lv was not able to find out Klementjevs' opinion on the latest fine imposed by the VVC, as he did not return calls on Monday or Tuesday.
Earlier this year, the VVC received submissions questioning the language proficiency not only of the same four but of two other "For Stability!" However, these two MPs did something different - they immediately attended the VVC test and their knowledge of the national language was found to be adequate.
"For Stability!" leader Rosļikovs said that of the six MPs invited to the VVC's national language test, four passed and only two "did not complete the communication with the State Language Center". In total, there are ten deputies of this party in the Saeima.
"We are very cooperative, even though we could strike a pose with the first deputy and nobody can do anything, they can write those fines to infinity," Rosļikovs said.
He added that deputies do not act maliciously, they "try to cooperate within their competences and possibilities". He believes that calling for inspections by the VVC is a "politically committed affair."
Rēķe, the VVC's representative also pointed out that the legal framework does not provide for legal consequences other than administrative fines for MPs for failing to comply with their obligations under the State Language Law.
This means that it is possible for MPs to avoid being tested on their use of the national language for the entire duration of the parliamentary term. They can pay the fine and remain in office until the next complaint.
