Russian-Speaking Minorities in Estonia and Latvia: Problems of Integration at the Threshold of the European Union
Publisher: ECMI Volume: 62 pages, pdf Description: The restoration of the Baltic states’ independence, back in 1991, brought about a number of political and legal challenges. The presence of large non-titular communities in Estonia and Latvia has proven to be the most pressing of these. Notwithstanding the fact that the European Commission already in 1997 concluded that ‘on the whole the rights of the Russian-speaking minorities are observed and safeguarded’, the legal status of these living relics of the Soviet period remains controversial. A resolution of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, adopted on 13 June 2002, criticised the protection of national minorities in Estonia.