Introduction
It is not possible to speak about the Baltics in relationship with minority languages without paying attention to the large Russian speaking minorities, especially in Latvia and Lithuania. In Estonia, there are 409,111 Russian speaking civilians, which is 28 % of the total population (1,500,000). In Latvia, there are even more ethnic Russians: 900,000 - about 36 % of a population totalling 2,500,000. The situation in Lithuania differs from the situation in the other two Baltic States:  3,7 million people live in Lithuania, and 304,000 of them belong to the Russian minority (8%). The Russian minority is still the biggest minority in Lithuania, but not as substantial as in Latvia and Estonia. Therefore, language is not such a delicate matter in Lithuania as it is in the other two Baltic States, which have carried through a rather controversial language policy.  That policy is leading to friction between the autochthonous Estonian and Latvian population on the one hand and the Russian language minorities in those countries on the other hand.
 
However, in Estonia, a Language Strategy Centre was  founded recently, something which seems to be necessary because of the tensions that exist between the Estonian population and the Russian speaking population in Estonia. These tensions have a historical background: under Soviet-occupation (1940-1991), the Estonians were seen as the minority group. After the 1991 independence, however,  roles had changed. The large Russian groups had originally been sent to the Baltics in the framework of russification politics in the days of Stalin. Latvian almost disappeared as a language in the public scene because of that. Today, those historical facts determine the relationship between majority and minorities. Now, a lot of effort is being put into strengthening the position of Latvian. Minority languages are classified as “foreign languages”. The big Russian neighbour does not hesitate to stir up tensions between the ethnic Russians and the indigenous population; Russia is not pleased at all that the Baltic states will join NATO in due course. At the same time, against all agreements,[1]  Russia keeps its military force in former Soviet republics such as Moldavia and Georgia. Therefore, it is not  surprising that the Baltic States, feeling Russia breathing down their necks and with revitalization of their own languages as a main priority, have problems handling their Russian language minorities in a decent way. Moreover, in the Baltics, people feel that Russia has  responsibilities as well: namely concerning the welfare of the Russian language groups. Estonia, for example, considers the immigration of Russians in the post-war years illegal. Moreover, it feels that Russians who were forcibly deported to Estonia should be provided with economic and political assistance if they want to return to Russia.[2]
 
Monolingual or multilingual education?
The tensions between the ethnic Russians and the autochthonous population express themselves, amongst others, in education. In the interbellum period, Estonia developed a very special culture of bilingualism, which was reflected in education: there were Estonian-Russian, Estonian-German, Estonian-Swedish, Latvian-Russian and Yiddish-German-Russian schools. In 1925, a law on cultural autonomy was introduced which gave national minorities the right to establish their own cultural institutions as public corporations. Minorities could raise taxes themselves and use the money for their own schools and cultural associations. Because of that, Estonia developed an international reputation for its treatment of national minorities.[3]  During its independence years from 1918 until 1940, the situation in Latvia was similar. Education was provided in seven languages in about 30 % of all elementary schools in Latvia supported by the state. 14,4 % of all state-supported high schools offered education in a minority language. Moreover, there were German and Russian universities in Latvia as well.[4]
 
The German occupation followed by  the Soviet-era did not have a positive effect on this climate. Because of the dominant position of Russian, the position of Estonian was weakened severely, as well as the command the Estonian population had of the language. For that reason, the accent in today's Estonian education is on Estonian; in most cases the language of instruction is Estonian.  In all other cases, the medium of instruction in schools is Russian, although a lot of other minority languages are spoken in Estonia - such as Belorussian, Ukrainian, Latvian, Lithuanian, German, Polish, Tatar, Yiddish, Romany and Finnish. There is, nevertheless, one Ukrainian language class at a secondary school in Estonia’s capital Tallinn. In accordance with the new Estonian Law on Education, Estonia wants to  switch to monolingual Estonian education for all schools in the country in 2007. In those parts of the country where the majority of the population speaks Russian, however,  it is allowed to continue teaching in Russian. This goes against the will of the Estonian nationalists, of course, who claim that it is impossible for Estonia to have two different education systems. This might be true, but it does not mean that an education system should be exclusively monolingual. The Estonian nationalists, however, are afraid that the ethnic Russians in their country want to have Russian universities as well, and that is something the nationalists do not want at any cost. The concept of multilingual education does not seem to occur in the minds of the politicians… Why should a school in a city such as for example Narva - Estonia’s third largest city in the Ida-Virumaa-region, where 95 % of the people speak Russian -switch over to monolingual Estonian education? Most inhabitants of Narva do not even have a proper command of Estonian… Narva was bombed in 1944 and most of the original inhabitants left the ruins of the city then. After the war, Russian labourers rebuilt  the city and started to live there. Still, Russian is not even the official second language in Narva.
 
Also, according to the law on citizenship, Estonians are the people who have lived in Estonia before the Soviet occupation that started in 1940 (or their descendants). According to this law and the law on “aliens” (with aliens defined as “stateless persons and citizens of a foreign state regardless of the residence period in Estonia”), most of the inhabitants of Narva do not have a right to vote. For this reason, a town like Narva would like to have territorial autonomy, which in turn would threaten  the stability of Estonia, of course.[5]  In Estonia’s capital Tallinn, half the number of inhabitants speak Russian. It is nevertheless  also impossible to use Russian there as a language of government, although there are politicians in the city who want to create a situation in which it is possible to make government documents accessible in Russian, too.
  In Estonia, Russian speakers have their own school system, from kindergarten to university. A report on lesser-used languages in six new member states reflects the situation of 2001: of 730 schools in Estonia, 111 are monolingual Russian and 23 are bilingual Estonian-Russian. There are 10 Russian pre-primary schools, 38 Russian primary schools and 63 Russian secondary schools in Estonia. The bilingual schools are divided up as follows: two pre-primary, eight primary and 13 secondary bilingual schools. Some 35 % of the secondary schools in Estonia are Russian and 66,000 pupils are taught in Russian. In 2001, 9700 students received vocational and professional education in Russian (31 % of the total) and 4732 university students were taught in Russian (13,7 % of the total). Furthermore, there has been a Ukrainian class in a secondary school in Tallinn since 1992.[6]There is no education in the native languages for the Belarussian, Finnish, Tatar, Latvian, Yiddish, Polish, Lithuanian, Romany and German minorities in Estonia.   The Russian language group in Latvia has many schools at its disposal where Russian is the language of instruction . There are 180 Russian public schools, 19 private Russian schools and 147 bilingual Latvian-Russian schools. In addition, multilingual education is offered in Latvia as well: there is a trilingual school in Liepaya where pupils receive education in Latvian, Russian and Lithuanian. Besides the trilingual school in Liepaya, there is also a Lithuanian, an Estonian, a Ukrainian and a Roma-school in Latvia. Moreover, there are six schools where Polish is the medium of instruction, and there is one Jewish school where Yiddish is in the curriculum. Quite unique is a school for Roma-children in Latvia’s biggest seaport Venstpils, where Latvian is the language of instruction, but where Romany is taught as well. According to Druviete (1998) “several Romany textbooks” have been published in Latvia and she considers “the level of linguistic integration” of the Romas in Latvian society “very high”.[7]   According to Pfeil (2002), however, the medium of instruction in a lot of these schools is nevertheless often Latvian. The command of the state language (Latvian) always seems to have the highest priority. In Latvia, there is a particular lack of both proper teaching materials (very often, textbooks from the Soviet days are still being used) as well as a lack of motivated teachers (they are being underpaid). Multilingual education seems to be the most natural future for education in minority languages in Latvia: a lot of Russian schools are being closed and, perhaps more importantly, many speakers of a minority language in Latvia do not have a proper command of Latvian. However, the Latvian government seems to think otherwise: as early as September 2004, all municipality-financed and state-financed Russian schools had to switch to monolingual Latvian education. Of course, the Russian community in Latvia does not agree: in an interview with Eurolang, the Latvian Member of Parliament Boris Tsilevich expressed his feelings about the current situation in Latvia as follows:[8]
 
“It is a key problem for us. Abolishing education in the languages of the ethnic minorities, especially in Russian, could blow up society.’
 
According to Tsivelich, the intention to switch to monolingual Latvian education is part of a strategic plan on the part of the Latvian political establishment to assimilate the national minorities fully. Aivairs Lembergs, Mayor of the above-mentioned town of Ventspils, calls the intention to switch to the exclusive use of Latvian in education as a “stupid political campaign”, far from reality. According to him, it would be better to wait a bit before switching over to Latvian in education. Lembergs states that 2008 would be a better moment to make the switch. He argues that as recently as 1999 a start was made with bilingual Russian-Latvian education in his city.  Pupils , who are now following their courses in Russian and Latvian, will continue with secondary school in 2008. Only in this way a smooth transition can take place, according to Lembergs, although he prefers bilingual education.[9]
 
Of course, one could ask oneself why bilingual education could not be daily practice at all school levels in parts of Latvia where large groups of ethnic Russians live. The Latvian government, however, sees bilingual education only as an instrument to make all schools fully Latvian. According to research carried out by the Latvian Soros Foundation, however, no more than half the number of all schools in Latvia were / are ready to make the switch to monolingual Latvian education. George Soros, founder of the Soros Foundation, claims that the future of Latvian and the Latvian state are safe now: in his opinion it would be better if the Latvians were more tolerant towards the ethnic Russians and the Russian language and culture.[10]The Latvian Minister of Education, Karlis Sadurskis, however, does not seem to agree with Mr. Soros. In January 2004, he made the following statement about organizations and MPs who actively support Russian education in Latvia:[11]
 
“Some political organizations, like the Latvian Association for the support of Russian-language schools and the Headquarters for Russian school protection, have for a long time been instigating national minorities into destructive activities… Some MPs and members of the Riga Duma – J. Pliner, V. Buzaev, N. Kabanov, A. Gilman – are also taking part in this crusade of the forces of darkness.”
 
It goes without saying that such a remark is not conducive to a good mutual understanding.
 
According to the 1991 law on national minorities, minorities have a right to receive education in their own language at every level in Lithuania. This means that larger and so-called “compact” minorities can have their own schools where their language is the medium of instruction. Public schools offer smaller minority language communities, or communities with a larger spread over the country, the opportunity  of having separate classes where the minority language is the medium of instruction. In the academic year 1993/1994, there were 250 minority language schools with 74,500 pupils, which in those days amounted to 15 % of the total school population in Lithuania. Over the years, that number has decreased. In 2000/2001 there were altogether 217 minority language schools in Lithuania, with a total number of 64,245 pupils, 10 % of the total Lithuanian school population. However, one cannot say that the number of pupils in all minority schools in Lithuania has decreased. Especially the Russian language schools suffered a great reduction regarding the number of pupils during this period: numbers decreased from 76,038 to 41,162 children in the period between 1990 and 2000. However, in the case of schools with Polish as the instructive language,  a reverse development could be witnessed: in the period 1990 – 2000 the number of pupils in these schools increased from 11,407 to 22,203.
 
As was already mentioned earlier: the situation for language minorities in Lithuania differs from the situation  in Latvia and Estonia. The Russian language group , although it is the largest of the national minorities, is not that extensive in Lithuania (8 % of the population). The Polish minority is only slightly smaller (7 %).  In addition to Lithuanian, Russian and Polish schools and one Belorussian school, there is also a lot of multilingual education in Lithuania: there are bilingual Lithuanian-Russian, Lithuanian-Polish, Russian-Polish and Russian-Belorussian schools, and trilingual Russian-Lithuanian-Polish schools. It can be concluded that multilingual education (bilingual and trilingual) seems to be the most natural future for education in minority languages in Lithuania as well.
 
Stateless citizens
 
Another problem in Estonia and Latvia is the matter of citizenship. Estimations vary, but it is safe to say that the total number of inhabitants without citizenship in both countries amounts to 15 to 25 % of the total population. Those “stateless” individuals in most cases belong to the Russian minorities. In the 1990s, the Law on Citizenship (1993) and the Law on Language (1995) were introduced in Estonia. As a result, a lot of ethnic Russians became stateless citizens. In order to acquire the Estonian nationality, it is necessary to pass a “citizenship exam” first.  This has been a requirement since the  laws mentioned earlier were implemented. In that exam, rather strict demands are formulated concerning the command of Estonian one should have. Most Russians in Estonia do not speak Estonian or have very poor knowledge of it. The only thing these Russians inhabitants of the two Baltic states often have is an old Soviet passport. Still, the situation seems to be a little bit better now for the ethnic Russians in Estonia: until January 2002, the nationalistic Pro Patria Party was part of the ruling coalition and the Estonian Prime Minister was a member of Pro Patria as well. At the moment, however, the ruling coalition consists of the Reformist Party and the Centre Party. Especially the Centre Party traditionally gets a lot of support from the Russian speaking population of  Estonia. In Latvia, however, it is still a risk to take up the cudgels on behalf of the ethnic Russians. The socialist Latvian parliamentarian Martijans Bekasovs experienced that. He was Latvia’s observer in the European Parliament, but had to quit his job under the pressure of the Saeima: Mr. Bekasovs had criticized the way Latvia deals with its Russian speaking inhabitants. He claimed it is impossible for Russians without citizenship in Latvia to get jobs and to learn Latvian if the Latvian government does not supply the necessary funds to do so.[12]
 
Striving for Linguistic Diversity
 
The two Baltic states Latvia and Estonia are quite similar in the way both countries deal with their national minorities. In both states, the Russian minorities form a substantial part of the population. Because of the recent history of Soviet occupation, with Russian as the dominant language and Latvian and Estonian as truly endangered languages, the tensions between majority and minority have seriously increased since the independence of both countries in 1991. Teaching and learning the new state language, or maybe one should say its revitalization, has the highest priority in education. Although the Russian minority has a wide-branched education system at its disposal in Estonia as well as in Latvia, more and more Russian schools are being closed. In Lithuania, the situation is slightly different.  This state suffered less from the process of russification in the occupation days, and the Russian language group is not as big as the Russian minorities in the other two Baltic states. Moreover, there is extensive bilingual and trilingual education in Lithuania. Multilingual education seems to be the best way to preserve education in minority languages in the Baltics. That way, ethnic Russians will also be able to learn the state language of these countries, which in turn will lead to a better understanding between the Russians and the indigenous populations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Moreover, ethnic Russians will have better chances of finding employment. Multilingual education will stimulate the socio-economic integration of minorities in those countries. It will also ease the tensions between the population groups.
 
Still, the question is whether we have to consider the ethnic Russians in the Baltics  indigenous or foreign.  The Latvian government chooses the latter option: most of the Russians in that state do not have Latvian citizenship. The Russian language groups are nevertheless too large to ignore: since May 1st 2004, 2,2 million ethnic Russians have been  living within the EU. It is remarkable that none of the Baltic states has signed the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Estonia and Lithuania did sign, ratify and implement the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. Latvia only signed the Convention. The Framework Convention is aimed more specifically at minorities and cultures per se, and not at minority languages in particular as the Charter does.

Population and minorities in Latvia[13]
Languages	Number	Percentage
Latvian	1,365,047	55,5 %
Russian	796,023	32,4 %
Belorussian	97,.036	3,9 %
Ukrainian	71,451	2,9 %
Polish	53,877	2,2 %
Lithuanian	31,425	1,3 %
Jewish	9,383	0,4 %
Roma	7,684	0,3 %
Tatar	3,435	0,1 %
Estonian	2,669	0,1 %
German	1,754	0,1 %
Liv	135
Total number of people belonging to a minority	1.074.872		43,7 %

Population and minorities in Estonia[14]
Languages	Number	Percentage
Estonian	946,646	65,1 %
Russian	409,111	28,1 %
Ukrainian	36,929	2,5 %
Belorussian	21,589	1,5 %
Finnish	13,317	0,9 %
Tatar	3,271	0,2 %
Latvian	2,691	0,2 %
Jewish	2,423	0,2 %
Polish	2,355	0,2 %
Lithuanian	2,221	0,2 %
Roma	1,500	0,1 %
German	1,288	0,1 %
Swedish	unknown
Total number of people belonging to a minority	496.695		34,2%

Population and minorities in Lithuania[15]
Languages	Number	Percentage
Lithuanian	3,021,368	81,5 %
Russian	304,800	8,2 %
Polish	256,600	6,9 %
Belorussian	54,500	1,5 %
Ukrainian	36,.900	1,0 %
Jewish	5,200	0,1 %
Tatar	5,135	0,1 %
Latvian	4,229	0,1 %
Roma	2,718	0,1 %
German	2,060
Karaim	289
Total number of people belonging to a minority	672.431		18,1 %

       
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Bibliography
 
Bratt Paulston, C. & D. Peckham. 1998. Linguistic Minorities in Central & Eastern Europe. Multilingual Matters Ltd.: Clevedon, Philadelphia, Toronto, Sydney, Johannesburg.
 
Hicks, D. 2003. European Parliament observer sacked for backing Russian minority - may lead to “serious problems” warns Cilevics (www.eurolang.net, 7/11/03).
 
Pan, C & B.S. Pfeil. 2002. Ethnos. Minderheitenrechte in Europa. Handbuch der europaïschen Volksgruppen. Vienna: Braumüller.
 
Safire, W. 2004. “De Russische beer kent nog allerlei streken.” Taken from the New York Times and published in De Volkskrant, 10/02/04.
 
Shegedin, A. 2002. Adviser for ethnic minorities education in Riga: ‘Bilingual education is a good idea’. (www.eurolang.net, 25/10/02)
 
Shegedin, 2003. A. Mayor criticises moves to introduce Latvian into Russian medium schools Ventspils (www.eurolang.net, 24/10/03).
 
Shegedin, 2004. A. Controversial comments from Latvian Minister of Education Sadurskis on Russian-medium education. (www.eurolang.net, 19/01/04)
 
Williams, C. & D. Sfikas. 1999. Ethnicity and nationalism in Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Baltic states. Ashgate: Aldershot, Brookfield USA, Singapore and Sidney.
 

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[1]Safire, W. “De Russische beer kent nog allerlei streken.” Taken from the New York Times and published in De Volkskrant of February 10th, 2004.
[2]Woods, S.A. 1999. “Ethnicity and Nationalism in Contemporary Estonia”. In: Williams, C. & D. Sfikas. 1999. Ethnicity and nationalism in Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Baltic states. Ashgate: Aldershot, Brookfield USA, Singapore and Sidney, p. 279 – 281.
[3]Woods, S.A. 1999. “Ethnicity and Nationalism in Contemporary Estonia”. In: Williams, C. & D. Sfikas. 1999. Ethnicity and nationalism in Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Baltic states. Ashgate: Aldershot, Brookfield USA, Singapore and Sidney, p. 269.
[4]Druviete, I. 1998. “Republic of Latvia”. In: Bratt Paulston, C. & D. Peckham. 1998. Linguistic minorities in Central & Eastern Europe. Multilingual Matters Ltd.: Clevedon, Philadelphia, Toronto, Sydney, Johannesburg, p. 162.
[5]Woods, S.A. 1999. “Ethnicity and Nationalism in Contemporary Estonia”. In: Williams, C. & D. Sfikas. 1999. Ethnicity and nationalism in Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Baltic states. Ashgate: Aldershot, Brookfield USA, Singapore and Sidney, p. 278/279.
[6]Winther, P (ed.). 2001. Lesser-used languages in states applying for EU Membership. European Parliament. Directorate-General for Research. Education and Culture Series. Working Paper. Abridged edition, p. 13/14.
[7]Druviete, I. 1998. “Republic of Latvia”. In: Bratt Paulston, C. & D. Peckham. 1998. Linguistic minorities in Central & Eastern Europe. Multilingual Matters Ltd.: Clevedon, Philadelphia, Toronto, Sydney, Johannesburg, p. 167.
[8]Shegedin, A. Relations between minorities and the majority in the Baltic States - a ‘long-term minefield’? (www.eurolang.net, 19/11/02).
[9]Shegedin, A. Mayor criticises moves to introduce Latvian into Russian medium schools Ventspils (www.eurolang.net, 24/10/03).
[10]Shegedin, A. Adviser for ethnic minorities education in Riga: ‘Bilingual education is a good idea’. (www.eurolang.net, 25/10/02)
[11]Shegedin, A. Controversial comments from Latvian Minister of Education Sadurskis on Russian-medium education. (www.eurolang.net, 19/01/04)
[12]Hicks, D. European Parliament observer sacked for backing Russian minority - may lead to “serious problems” warns Cilevics (www.eurolang.net, 7/11/03).
[13]  These numbers are taken from Pan (2002), Minderheitenrechte in Lettland. In: Pan & Pfeil, Minderheitenrechte in Europa, Vienna: Braumüller, 2002, p. 246.
[14]  These numbers are taken from Pan (2002), Minderheitenrechte in Estland. In: Pan & Pfeil, Minderheitenrechte in Europa, Vienna: Braumüller, 2002, p. 113.
[15]  These numbers are taken from Pan (2002), Minderheitenrechte in Litauen. In: Pan & Pfeil, Minderheitenrechte in Europa, Vienna: Braumüller, 2002, p. 259.