When the Krišjānis Kariņš government began its work in 2019, the Administrative-Territorial Reform (ATR) was named as one of the ideas or plans on which the coalition parties had managed to reach an agreement. The developments surrounding the reform have been discussed in various ways, primarily emphasizing rather vague, clichéd issues that are “easier to see from Riga”. As a result of the reform, vquite unexpectedly the Varakļāni municipality was preserved. What do the people for whom Varakļāni is their home region think about this?
Speaking of the administrative-territorial or municipality reform, how did it happen that a place could not be found for Varakļāni, and the issue was not resolved clearly or brought to a comprehensible conclusion, even by the Constitutional Court?
The issue concerns my home region – Varakļāni. The results of the Administrative-Territorial Reform (ATR) surprised me, because it turned out that people in Varakļāni had suddenly begun to think differently.
All my life, I have said: I am going to the countryside, to Latgale. No one has ever objected to me: “What are you talking about? Varakļāni is not in Latgale; you are driving to Vidzeme!” Over the last few years, due to the aforementioned reform, the name of Varakļāni has become popular and better known in Latvia because of its stance – part of the municipality's residents do not wish to belong to Latgale, seeing their future in Vidzeme. Of course, we can say that it is the younger generation that sees its future as belonging to Vidzeme, but I would like to ask – who has raised this generation? Is it the legacy of the Soviet occupation? In recent years, Varakļāni was an independent municipality, and the absolute majority of residents, as they confirm themselves, are Latgalians.
What has happened to the people of Varakļāni, the local leadership, the teachers, and the cultural workers? If we hear the Latgalian language on the street in the city every day, and if the church service is held in Latgalian, what has changed? The Vidzeme Planning Region will not solve all issues. It pained my heart to read in the local newspaper "Varakļōnīts" thoughts that Latgale is on the “dark side” because there are many Russian speakers there. My home is only a few kilometres from Varakļāni, but already in the Rēzekne municipality; according to the logic mentioned in the article, I should also start our conversation with “Zdravstvujte!” Hang on, that is not how it works!
The large Rēzekne municipality, which has Rēzekne at its centre, is, at least politically, unfortunately not quite a local (Latvian) type of city; the municipality is more Latvian, and there is also Viļāni... I assume it was concluded that the people of Varakļāni want to lean towards the more Latvian Madona municipality.
I would like to evaluate the situation more broadly – we live in Latvia. We have regions – Vidzeme, Kurzeme, Latgale, Zemgale, and Sēlija. Do we need to be afraid of any Latvian region, or be ashamed of it? That is not the right order of things! A person from Varakļāni, while living and being in Latgale, should by no means feel unsafe.
The word you used sounds very precise – should not – as a presumption. But is that actually the case?
That must be asked of those who feel unsafe or threatened. I feel safe in Latgale; no one has tried to Russify me, no one speaks Russian to me, and, more importantly, living in Latgale, I have not mastered the Russian language particularly well. I understand Russian, I can speak it, but I do not need this language in everyday life. I studied at the Rēzekne School of Arts and spent five years in this city; my knowledge of Russian did not improve while living there – everything depends on the individual. If we look at the facts, both in Rēzekne and in the municipality, Latvians are statistically in the majority.
Statistics are a clear thing, but it happens that a city is judged by the political course of its leadership...
Undeniably! The political course of the leadership, whether back then in Viļāni municipality, in Rēzekne, or now in Daugavpils, marks specific priorities and nuances. But let us think as a state, let us strengthen Latgale! At all times, even while living in a free Latvia, the territory of Latgale has been changed, intentionally or unintentionally, by taking away its Latvian municipalities. If that had not been done, the statistics and the situation would certainly be different.
In a recent conversation touching on the problems in the border region with the reception of Latvian TV channels, both an explanation and a question were voiced – how did it happen that the responsible professionals pretended not to notice that local TV channels were poorly received in the border region, or not received at all? Russia's invasion of Ukraine forced us to think about this and come to not the best of conclusions.
That is not quite true. For several years now, purely technically, the reception of public media – Latvian TV and Latvian Radio – has been ensured by building several broadcasting towers near the border. Yes, it took at least eight years to realize such a necessity, but it has been done! Currently, the Ministry of Culture is investing a lot of energy into attracting funding specifically to strengthen the media space in Latgale. This is being done today and now, and the plan must certainly be long-term.
Only relatively recently was the responsible department created in Latvia for the development of national-level media policy, with the main duties entrusted to the Ministry of Culture, where, admittedly, only three people work in the media division. Media policy guidelines have been developed; I think in this context, the situation should be evaluated by talking about the security of the media space as such. Technologies are developing at a rapid pace, and we must be able to put the mechanisms of the guidelines in place so as not to fall behind. Historically, this year, commercial media have been granted the largest funding – 4.7 million euros, including more than €600,000 for Latgalian media, and it is equally historical that public media, upon leaving the advertising market, also received funding to devote maximum energy to content creation.
In May, a meeting with representatives of regional media took place at the Ministry of Culture; for example, the situation in Latgale is quite specific – local residents trust their local media. Several newspapers are published in Latgale, even a magazine, and there is television and several radio stations, which is not as pronounced elsewhere in Latvia. We heard an assessment of the current situation from press publishers – there is a risk of whether to publish or not. Printing costs are rising. Such problems and the question of “to be or not to be” are often heard recently from “Ludzas Zeme” as well as “Latgales Laiks”.
Recently, while visiting Daugavpils University, during our conversation, we felt and heard a certain reserve – “in the city, basically everything is running normally, but in Riga they don't love us, because after all, we are Daugavpils”. The strange attitude towards the eastern part of our country has been talked about or deliberated upon for more than 30 years...
I certainly do not know how someone else would answer, but I have always said one thing – regardless of the audience – Latvia is not just Riga! I have always stood for any financially or content-wise supportable matter or process specifically in the regions. My heart clearly says – there must be no differences in the attitude towards Daugavpils or Liepāja. What is more, Daugavpils is Latvia's second-largest city. For example, the not-so-distant case this year where the director of the Staņislavs Broks Music High School wished to hang a Ukrainian flag at the school received my support. Everything depends on one's own feelings. As I mentioned before, I have not experienced forced learning of the Russian language or living in the Russian information space. Another significant topic is the Latgalian language; in Daugavpils, you hear five languages daily. Prompted by situations and evaluating prospects, we have finally arrived at instruction in schools in the official language; that solves many problems.
The language question has been “ground and tossed” for all the years of independence. Where, in your opinion, does the reason for this not being resolved lie? Could anyone explain it in great detail? C19 and Russia's invasion of Ukraine have created a sudden burst of activity, which, unfortunately, is once again a nudge from the outside.
I have to agree – we have created many bureaucratic obstacles for ourselves. We wanted to be high achievers and boast about our success, or else we do not trust ourselves. For example, when receiving EU fund money, Latvia is one of the “most diligent” document writers; other countries take our reports as a model. Why is this bar set so high specifically for us? It is clear that solutions in Estonia are much more reasonable and faster, and what is more, they find ways to adapt rules or requirements to their own needs, rather than literally executing rules created in Brussels. In Latvia, they try to do everything overly literally; I see this as both a problem and an obstacle, and a self-created one at that.
Who will tackle changing this and who will be ready to speak out loud that a heap of systemic (public administration) people in budgetary institutions will no longer have work?
I have an education as an artist and educator; I have also studied entrepreneurship. I am not from the civil service – I entered public administration with work experience in ministers' political offices. It happens that a new minister is approved who has a good idea (perhaps more than one), which is put on the table for discussion. Civil servants and specialists in the relevant field explain to the minister what can and cannot be realized. It is a civil servant's duty to inform the minister's political office either about the viability of the idea or the opposite. If a civil servant has warned and informed about a specific issue, they remove a certain responsibility for the future from themselves.
There is a view in society that the bureaucratic apparatus is large, but – if you were to ask a civil servant your question, you will hear that they are tired and overworked, especially during the C19 and energy crises, there is a felt shortage of staff, etc.
There is another explanation for this – with each newly elected Saeima, new tasks come to every ministry, which are assigned to the same employees. I believe that changes cannot be carried out by each minister individually; they must be carried out by jointly reviewing the areas of responsibility of the ministries, because, for example, the scope of issues for the Ministry of Culture is quite broad – culture, media policy, music and art schools, theatres, museums, the Song and Dance Festival, and the integration of society.
This question is as old as Latvia's independence. During C19, we heard a lot – it is time to change and change habits – a damp squib! The war – again, nothing. Who and when will start?
I hope that the events in Ukraine will make everyone personally – and especially future politicians – think and review Latvia's goals and future, and will make them stabilize the foundations and get down to this work. I also really hope for a process of self-cleansing so that people who are disloyal to the state do not hold positions in state institutions. There are not many such people, but.... .
At the end of April, the Latgale Congress took place quite quietly. What are its practical benefits and decisions?
I have mixed feelings about the Latgale Congress – the organizers of the congress unfortunately did not show a pronounced interest in cooperating. Before the congress, I participated in several meetings, for example, in the Saeima Latgale Subcommittee, whose deputies wanted to be delegates to the congress, which is only self-evident. Who else could better put what was decided at the congress into practice? This stage was missing. The congress working groups were well-attended, a resolution was produced, but in organizing the congress plenary session, the organizers should have involved more representatives of the non-governmental sector, active citizens, and individuals who have the time, interest, and, most importantly, influence in facilitating the execution of the resolution's points, and, of course, also politicians. Why do I say that? If all involved and interested parties sit down at the work table, the result is different. Currently, there is a resolution, there is an executive council for the congress resolution. We shall see how it goes, so that the situation does not repeat itself – after the 2017 congress, years have passed, but little has been specifically achieved from what was included in the resolution.
The Law on Historical Lands is little explained in society...
The result of the Administrative-Territorial Reform, which we already talked about, caused divided opinions in society. For example, the residents of Sēlija got moving and wanted a Sēlija municipality. They were not allowed. The Suiti expressed a similar desire; that too had no support in the VARAM or the Saeima. In my opinion, the Law on Historical Lands is an act for correcting the errors of the ATR, with the goal of healing the wounds inflicted by the reform. Local communities also hope for this, to take care of municipalities and also things characteristic of all of Latvia. We must see how much funding politicians will allocate for realizing the ideas of the law (about 500 received). For example, the Sēlija municipality wants its own separate State Culture Capital Foundation programme; currently, it “starts” with Latgale. Likewise, it is hoped that the Varakļāni municipality will integrate more into Latgale and be able to realize cultural projects.
Why was Sēlija left out in the cold?
During the ATR, I stood up for both the Suiti and the creation of a Sēlija municipality, but I did not participate in the development of the reform; that should be asked of others.
Last year, in an interview with the former mayor of Tukums municipality, we heard that in various processes, Tukums municipality is divided just as differently – one planning region, another Song and Dance Festival district, etc. Has clarity been introduced in the law on how to sort this out?
There is a Council for Historical Lands, which will think up and draw up a plan on what and how to realize through this law. Funding for bringing the law to life will be provided in 2023.
We already talked about the border region and its residents' television antennas. A similar thing is with border schools and the criteria for their existence.
The resolution of the Latgale Congress has a point about the preservation of the school network. Especially in the Latgale border region, it is very important for there to be a “living environment”. No one needs to repeat or be told – where there is a school, there are people.
Are these criteria directly related to a specific place? Unfortunately, the criteria are cooked up in Riga, knowing very little about the places affected by them...
That is a question for former Ministers of Education and Science, during whose time the criteria were created and which, unfortunately, many small schools do not meet. I studied in a small school – Dekšāre Primary School. I cannot say that a small school cannot be sufficiently high-quality or that it will necessarily lack educators – in my opinion, opportunities should be given to educate and study as close to home as possible, and teacher salaries should be ensured by travelling from school to school and combining workloads. Moving with a personal car from school to school, the expenses are high; I know some teachers who spend about 1/2 of their salary on fuel. Likewise, for example, for a school to continue to exist, children are brought to it from a more distant village past a high school in another municipality. Understanding this and sorting it out, while thinking about the future of the state and especially the countryside, is the duty of the Ministry of Education.
The word “integration” is often annoying. Has this question in Latvia been resolved with foresight?
Regarding integration policy, I can say – it has been on the right track. Those who have wanted to integrate into Latvia's processes, everyday events, and cultural life have been able to do so. Also, to learn the language or supplement their knowledge of it. The second part of the question – who wanted it and who did not. Those who have used the given opportunities are more competitive... Often, young people who have successfully engaged in economic life and know several languages have advantages compared to a Latvian high school student. If everything is possible and available, I evaluate that the integration policy has been correct. If someone did not want it, they will not want it tomorrow or the day after... You will not force it by power, no matter what we do. One thing, however – speaking about media in the Russian language – their information and content should not significantly differ from the media content in the Latvian language. We live in one country. What has happened? Everyone has tried to interpret what is happening and their understanding of the state and its direction in their own way.
Often, and because of Russia's aggression in Ukraine even more so, the Soviet-era generation is mentioned in various ways... What to do with this?
The information space – similarly to culture – is both entertainment and information acquisition; everyone does it in the way most comfortable for them. For those consuming information in Russian, the supply is logically quite a bit larger. Who offers this content? Russia and Belarus. A few years ago, when the idea of Russia's invasion of Ukraine did not cross anyone's mind, the legislator was sluggish in closing disloyal TV channels. The place of registration for many TV channels was Great Britain, which, in turn, did not “exert itself” with punishing or closing the respective channel. Now, Western European countries have also understood that the media determines the agenda so much and so strongly that they are finally ready to get involved in solving the issues of our information space. The Saeima has also adopted relevant amendments to the law. Let us look to the future optimistically!