COUNCIL OF EUROPE WILL STRICTLY RECOMMEND LATVIA TO FOLLOW DEMOCRATIC NORMS IN EDUCATION

MOSCOW, March 4, 2004. (RIA Novosti) - The Council of Europe will strictly recommend Latvia to follow the democratic norms adopted in Europe, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Eleonora Mitrofanova said on Thursday. She said that the ministry "received a positive answer" to the Foreign Minister's letters, addressed to the Council of Europe, the European Commission and the Commissioner for Human Rights, in connection with Moscow's concern about the situation in the sphere of education for Russian language speakers in Latvia.

The Council of Europe shares your concern and will strictly recommend Latvia to follow the democratic norms adopted in Europe, Eleonora Mitrofanova cited extracts from the answer.

She proposed to hold a round-table conference with the participation of the Council of Europe and the PACE to discuss this problem.

The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister said that one of the main problems in this respect is that education law in Latvia was adopted unilaterally, without appropriate consultations with representatives of the schools and of the Russian speaking population which accounts for 40 percent in Latvia.

Under the education law that has recently come into force, 60 percent of the subjects in the Russian schools curriculum will be taught in Lettish.