IRL Favors Tougher Citizenship Requirements

[Äike]

IRL Favors Tougher Citizenship Requirements

In a survey of major political parties' views on integration, IRL came out in favor of tightening the language requirements for obtaining Estonian citizenship.

When asked in the ERR survey whether citizenship requirements should be eased, IRL representative Mart Nutt said that, on the contrary, they should be made more strict.

"Actually you don't need to know Estonian to get Estonian citizenship, it's enough to put check marks in the right boxes," he said.

Approximately 100,000 of Estonia's 1.3 million residents, mainly ethnic Russians, remain stateless - a legacy of the complex politics that followed the nation's break from the USSR in 1991. Obtaining Estonian citizenship requires passing a language and citizenship exam.

Representatives of the opposition Centre Party, Social Democrats and People's Union advocated simplifying the citizenship exam.

"Becoming a citizen should not be such a complicated process that people lose motivation," said Centre Party MP Enn Eesmaa.

Social democrat Vadim Belobrovtsev said that the Citizenship Act, which came into force 15 years ago, needs to be thoroughly reviewed.

In its stated platform the Social Democratic Party has pledged to support cultural autonomy and offer citizenship to all children born in Estonia to non-citizens, noted Raivo Vetik, a professor of comparative politics at Tallinn University, in a separate commentary.

For his part Paul-Eerik Rummo, answering the survey for the Reform Party, stressed the need for more active dissemination of information regarding the opportunities and procedures for obtaining citizenship.

[Talvi]

I had a friend in high school who was Russian and took that test. She said that it was already too easy and that youd have to be really stupid not to pass it.

I also feel like someone named Vadim Belobrovtsev should not have a say in this.

[Äike]

I had a friend in high school who was Russian and took that test. She said that it was already too easy and that youd have to be really stupid not to pass it.

I also feel like someone named Vadim Belobrovtsev should not have a say in this.

Getting Estonian citizenship is extremely easy, it's easier than getting German citizenship or Finnish citizenship.

As our president has said, the best place in the world for a Russian to live is in Estonia. They even have their own completely independent education system.

[Talvi]

Lol. I was at a party today with 3 japs, 4 Russians born/living in Estonia and 2 Russian Jews born/living in Estonia. Most of those russkies cant speak proper Estonian and also dont want to. It was unpleasant.

[Äike]

Lol. I was at a party today with 3 japs, 4 Russians born/living in Estonia and 2 Russian Jews born/living in Estonia. Most of those russkies cant speak proper Estonian and also dont want to. It was unpleasant.

Do you live in Tartu?

[Groenewolf]

Representatives of the opposition Centre Party, Social Democrats and People's Union advocated simplifying the citizenship exam.

And they probably hope that their electoral base will be enlarged by such a thing. Same thing everywhere actually. How much political power does the IRL hold? And what is the position of any coalition parties on this issue?

[Talvi]

Do you live in Tartu?

No, Im in Tallinn.

[Äike]

And they probably hope that their electoral base will be enlarged by such a thing. Same thing everywhere actually. How much political power does the IRL hold? And what is the position of any coalition parties on this issue?

IRL(Isamaa ja Res Publica liit) is in the coalition and the 3rd most popular party in Estonia.

The Centre party is the 2nd most popular party in Estonia, as all the Russians vote for it. While the votes of Estonians are divided between 6 different parties. The Centre party is called the pro-Russian party for a reason. For example, they're in power in Tallinn, because Tallinn is only 50% Estonian.

But people without citizenship cannot vote in the parliament elections, thus the Centre party will lose potential 100 000 votes, this is one of the reasons why they are in the opposition.