Aigars Kalvītis, Latvian Prime Minister, told the Latvian Radio that “We cannot discriminate against people on any ground”. He said that following legal evaluation it could be said if the current Labour Law is discriminatory towards sexual minorities and he also stated that after such evaluation the ‘incorrect voting’ can be remedied.

Latvian Ministry of Welfare which is responsible for the transposition and implementation of the EU 200/78/EC Employment Equality Directive in Latvia issued a statement that the Ministry will write to the President of Latvia a letter asking her not to sign the decision of the Latvian Parliament to exclude sexual orientation from the Labour Law into a law.

The Ministry states that according to the 2000/78/EC directive the European Union adopted a united framework on equal treatment in employment and all EU member states, including Latvia, are under obligation to ban any discrimination including on the grounds of sexual orientation. This provision has to be included in the national legislation clearly and precisely to avoid legal incoherence and additionally each ground has to be explicitly mentioned.

However, despite the fact that after Latvia joined the EU and automatically accepted the body of law of the European Union and our country is under obligation to transpose and implement this directive, and taking into account the European Commission’s numerous statement, Latvia is the only among the newest 10 EU member states which did not clearly transpose and implement requirements of the EU directive on sexual orientation discrimination.

Ministry of Welfare reminds that the European Commission pointed out the lack of proper transposition and implementation of this directive in Latvia on many occasions as sexual orientation is not explicitly mentioned among banned discrimination grounds. Additionally, in case of not transposing and implementing specific requirement of the directive, the European Commission can submit a legal complaint to the European Court of Justice against Latvia and a considerable financial penalty can be imposed for not complying with the directive.

Ministry of Welfare also points out that it has done everything possible to ensure that the Labour Law clearly and correctly defines the ban of discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation as required by the EU directive and the Ministry’s proposals survived until the third reading at the parliament.

Sources: Latvian Radio, www.latvijasradio.lv
Ministry of Welfare website: www.lm.gov.lv