For Fatherland and Freedom
Encyclopedia
For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK , abbreviated to TB/LNNK, was a free market
national conservative
political party
in Latvia
. It has two members in Latvia's parliament, the Saeima
, and belongs to the National Alliance
, which has eight seats.
The party was founded from smaller groups in 1993 as 'For Fatherland and Freedom
' (TB), focusing on promoting the Latvian language
and putting a cap on naturalisation
. It won six Saeima seats in its first year
, and 14 in 1995
, when it entered the governing centre-right
coalition. It merged with the moderate Latvian National Independence Movement
(LNNK) in 1997, and moved its emphasis to economic liberalisation. TB/LNNK's then-leader, Guntars Krasts
, was Prime Minister
from 1997 to 1998. It remained in government until 2004, and again since 2006.
Initially from the nationalist
right, the party has become more moderate since the 1997 merger. It has also shifted from supporting economic interventionism
to the free market. A predominantly ethnic Latvian party, the party's support base is university-educated, middle class
, and concentrated in Riga
. The party is soft eurosceptic, and is a member of the anti-federalist Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists
. Its one MEP
, party leader Roberts Zīle
, sits with the ECR
group in the European Parliament
. It has caused controversy with its commemoration of Latvian Legion Day
.
For the 2010 parliamentary election, the party formed an alliance with far right nationalist All For Latvia!
. In July 2011, both parties merged into a unitary party, bearing the name National Alliance
.
in the late 1980s. It identified with the radical part of the movement, which insisted on full independence for Latvia and the legal continuity with the Republic of Latvia that existed until 1940, when it was annexed
by Soviet Union
. Both of those ideas were later adopted by the mainstream independence movement.
It closely affiliated to the Citizens' Congress
, by which an alternative government was created that claimed lineage to the interwar government. In this structure, parties developed, which continued after independence in 1991. Two of the parties, the '18th November Union' and 'Fatherland', merged in 1993 to form the centre-right
'For Fatherland and Freedom' ( or TB). The new party took its name from the inscription on the Freedom Monument
, and its focus was on undoing the effects of the Soviet occupation, especially promoting the Latvian language and tightening citizenship laws. The party took part in the 1993 election
to the Saeima
, and won six seats. A party with a similar background, the Latvian National Independence Movement
(LNNK), won fifteen seats.
, the TB signed a prospective coalition agreement, the centre-right 'National Bloc', with the LNNK and the Latvian Farmers' Union
, and presented a more rounded programme, based on the LNNK's, although still concentrating on national identity issues. The party jumped to fourteen seats, becoming one of the four major parties in the Saeima, and leap-frogging the LNNK (which suffered a split from the secession of the populist right
under Joachim Siegerist
) as the main right-wing party. The party fell just short of a majority, with leader Māris Grīnblats
's right-wing coalition securing the support of 49 out of 100 deputies for the premiership
. Instead, a broad centre-right coalition was formed with the TB controlling four ministries under PM Andris Šķēle
.
In 1997, the TB merged with the LNNK to form 'For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK', also known as the 'Conservative Union'. In 1998, the proposal was defeated in a referendum
, by a relatively small margin (45% of voters supporting the change and 52% rejecting it). At the end of the 1990s and the early 2000s, the party shifted its focus to economic issues, as the language and citizenship issues were largely resolved.
, was the prime minister
. From February 2004 until November 2006, the party was in opposition. Although it only gained 8 seats in the 2006 elections, the party was invited to become part of the ruling coalition, and it agreed to join.
Tēvzemei un Brīvībai campaigned as a strong supporter of Latvia's national interests and opponent of
a federal Europe. Tēvzemei un Brīvībai won 29% of vote and 4 of Latvia's 9 seats in the 2004 European Parliament election
. In the 2009 European election
, the party lost most of its support, falling from nearly 30% to 7.5%, resulting in the loss of 3 of its 4 European seats.
The party attempted to join the centre-right Unity
electoral alliance
in 2010, but was rejected. This forced it to join with the more nationalist All For Latvia!
(VL) in the National Alliance
(Nacionālā Apvienība). In the 2010 elections, the Alliance won eight seats, with VL winning six of them and TB/LNNK reduced to two.
In July 2011, both components of the National Alliance agreed to intensify their links and to re-organize the National Alliance as a unitary party under the same name. On TB/LNNK's 17th and last delegate conference, 84 of 90 party representatives agreed with the merger, 3 defeated and 3 abstained.
of the large population of non-citizens
that live in Latvia. The party's stance towards the Soviet
era lead Guntars Krasts
's government to make Latvian Legion Day
a public holiday
, and its members to celebrate the Latvian Legion, which fought against the USSR and alongside Nazi Germany
in the Second World War
.
The party is an advocate of the free market
. The party's position has shifted over time from interventionism
to liberalisation. Originally, the party based its statism on the heavy interventionism in the inter-war republic. Of TB/LNNK's predecessors, For Fatherland and Freedom was more sceptical of the free market, while the LNNK supported full privatisation
, within the context of a welfare state and protectionism
. After the merger, the party adopted free market economics as one of its main emphases, advocating a swift transition to a market economy.
The party holds an anti-federal, soft eurosceptic position. It was the only party to have flirted with opposing membership of the European Union
before Latvian accession. In March 2003, it changed to supporting membership, fearing that voting no would cause the country to lose support for economic reforms and security policy. The party campaigned in favour of accession in the November 2003 referendum
.
The party is a strong advocate for the Latvian language
. For example, it introduced a law mandating the public sector
to ignore communication in any other language.
At the ECRI
high-level panel meeting in 2005, Jean-Yves Camus, a French political scientist, has described the party as "on the borderline between conservative right and far-right" and "an ultra-nationalist party comparable in some respect to the far right".
. In the 1998 election
, ethnic Latvians were fifteen times as likely to vote for the party as ethnic Russians. The 1998 referendum on citizenship
sponsored by TB/LNNK was supported by a majority of Latvians, but defeated overall by ethnic Russians.
The party is supported mostly by the middle class
es, with wealthier voters tending to vote either for TB/LNNK or Latvian Way
. Before the parties merged in 1997, both TB and the LNNK received the most support from university graduates.
Riga
has traditionally been by far the party's strongest area, with 40% of its voters in 1995 coming from the capital city. However, Riga's politics are shifting from a ethno-linguistic cleavage to a socio-economic one, leading to a softening of this disparity in the 2001 local elections.
Unlike most parties in Latvia, TB/LNNK has never based its support on having a particularly popular leader.
(AECR), allying with, amongst others, the British
Conservative Party
, Polish
Law and Justice
, and the Czech
Civic Democratic Party. They sit with the AECR's group, the European Conservatives and Reformists
, in the European Parliament
. Until 2009, TB/LNNK was a member of the Alliance for Europe of the Nations
and sat with the UEN
group.
In 2009, British foreign secretary David Miliband
has criticized Conservative Chairman Eric Pickles
' decision to secure an alliance with TB/LNNK in the ECR group "despite the fact that its members attend commemorations for the Waffen-SS". In a response, William Hague
demanded apology to TB/LNNK and Latvian government from Miliband, describing his remarks as recycling "false Soviet propaganda" and noting that "the majority of parties forming Latvia’s current Government including the Prime Minister’s party, have attended the commemoration of Latvians who fought in the Second World War".
The Israel
i historian and Nazi-hunter Efraim Zuroff
, head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center
's Israel
i office in Jerusalem, criticized the party's "obsession to pay public homage to the Latvian-SS Legion in contradiction to all historical logic and sensitivity to Nazi crimes" in a column for The Guardian
on September 28, 2009, while Vilnius University
professor Dovid Katz
, writing that the British Conservatives must not be let "get off the hook for their dalliances with some of the worst racists and Holocaust perverters in eastern Europe," called for Pickles' resignation as chairman in October 2009.
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
national conservative
National conservatism
National conservatism is a political term used primarily in Europe to describe a variant of conservatism which concentrates more on national interests than standard conservatism as well as upholding cultural and ethnic identity, while not being outspokenly nationalist or supporting a far-right...
political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
in Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
. It has two members in Latvia's parliament, the Saeima
Saeima
Saeima is the parliament of the Republic of Latvia. It is a unicameral parliament consisting of 100 members who are elected by proportional representation, with seats allocated to political parties which gain at least 5% of the popular vote. Elections are scheduled to be held once every four years,...
, and belongs to the National Alliance
National Alliance (Latvia)
The National Alliance, officially the National Alliance "All For Latvia!" – "For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK" , abbreviated to NA, is a right-wing political party in Latvia. With fourteen seats in the Saeima, the National Alliance is the fourth-largest party in the legislature...
, which has eight seats.
The party was founded from smaller groups in 1993 as 'For Fatherland and Freedom
For Fatherland and Freedom
For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK , abbreviated to TB/LNNK, was a free market national conservative political party in Latvia. It has two members in Latvia's parliament, the Saeima, and belongs to the National Alliance, which has eight seats....
' (TB), focusing on promoting the Latvian language
Latvian language
Latvian is the official state language of Latvia. It is also sometimes referred to as Lettish. There are about 1.4 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and about 150,000 abroad. The Latvian language has a relatively large number of non-native speakers, atypical for a small language...
and putting a cap on naturalisation
Naturalization
Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....
. It won six Saeima seats in its first year
Latvian parliamentary election, 1993
Elections for the 5th Saeima, the parliament of Latvia were held on 5 June and 6 June 1993, the first parliamentary elections in Latvia after its independence was restored in 1991....
, and 14 in 1995
Latvian parliamentary election, 1995
Elections for 6th Saeima, the parliament of Latvia were held on September 30 and October 1, 1995. There were lists of candidates from 19 political parties. The voter participation was 72.65%, with 965,339 out of 1,328,779 eligible voters casting votes....
, when it entered the governing centre-right
Centre-right
The centre-right or center-right is a political term commonly used to describe or denote individuals, political parties, or organizations whose views stretch from the centre to the right on the left-right spectrum, excluding far right stances. Centre-right can also describe a coalition of centrist...
coalition. It merged with the moderate Latvian National Independence Movement
Latvian National Independence Movement
The Latvian National Independence Movement was a political organization in Latvia from 1988 till mid-1990s.It formed in 1988, as the radical wing of Latvian nationalist movement...
(LNNK) in 1997, and moved its emphasis to economic liberalisation. TB/LNNK's then-leader, Guntars Krasts
Guntars Krasts
Guntars Krasts is a Latvian politician, former Prime Minister, and former Member of the European Parliament for the single Latvia constituency. Born in Riga, he was the Minister of Economy of Latvia from December 1995 to August 1997, Prime Minister of Latvia from August 1997 to November 1998, and...
, was Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Latvia
The Prime Minister of Latvia is the most powerful member of the Government of the Republic of Latvia, and presides over the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers...
from 1997 to 1998. It remained in government until 2004, and again since 2006.
Initially from the nationalist
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
right, the party has become more moderate since the 1997 merger. It has also shifted from supporting economic interventionism
Economic interventionism
Economic interventionism is an action taken by a government in a market economy or market-oriented mixed economy, beyond the basic regulation of fraud and enforcement of contracts, in an effort to affect its own economy...
to the free market. A predominantly ethnic Latvian party, the party's support base is university-educated, middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
, and concentrated in Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
. The party is soft eurosceptic, and is a member of the anti-federalist Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists
Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists
The Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists, abbreviated to AECR, is a centre-right anti-federalist European political party defending broader conservative and classical liberal principles. It consists of twelve parties in nine EU member states and Iceland...
. Its one MEP
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
, party leader Roberts Zīle
Roberts Zile
Dr. Roberts Zīle is a Latvian economist and politician and Member of the European Parliament for the National Alliance, a free market national conservative political party in Latvia and part of the European Conservatives and Reformists...
, sits with the ECR
European Conservatives and Reformists
The European Conservatives and Reformists, abbreviated to ECR, is a conservative anti-federalist political group in the European Parliament. The group currently comprises 57 MEPs, making it the fourth-largest group in the European Parliament....
group in the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
. It has caused controversy with its commemoration of Latvian Legion Day
Latvian Legion Day
Latvian Legion Day is a day on March 16, when front soldiers of the Latvian Legion, part of the Waffen SS, are commemorated...
.
For the 2010 parliamentary election, the party formed an alliance with far right nationalist All For Latvia!
All For Latvia!
All For Latvia! was a nationalist political party in Latvia.All For Latvia! started as a political youth organization in 2000 and became a political party in January 2006, running in 2006 elections. It won 1.48% of vote and no seats in the parliament...
. In July 2011, both parties merged into a unitary party, bearing the name National Alliance
National Alliance (Latvia)
The National Alliance, officially the National Alliance "All For Latvia!" – "For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK" , abbreviated to NA, is a right-wing political party in Latvia. With fourteen seats in the Saeima, the National Alliance is the fourth-largest party in the legislature...
.
Foundation
The roots of the party are in the 'Third Awakening' of the Latvian independence movementLatvian independence movement
Latvian independence movement during Soviet and Nazi occupation .-First year of occupation:The effects of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of August 23, 1939 assigned Latvia to the Soviet sphere of influence. On August 5, 1940, the Soviet Union annexed Latvia...
in the late 1980s. It identified with the radical part of the movement, which insisted on full independence for Latvia and the legal continuity with the Republic of Latvia that existed until 1940, when it was annexed
Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940
The Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 refers, according to the European Court of Human Rights, the Government of Latvia, the State Department of the United States of America, and the European Union, to the military occupation of the Republic of Latvia by the Soviet Union ostensibly under the...
by Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. Both of those ideas were later adopted by the mainstream independence movement.
It closely affiliated to the Citizens' Congress
Citizens' Congress
The Citizens' Congress of the Republic of Latvia was an organisation established in Latvia in 1989 as part of the Latvian independence movement. It was formed in defiance of the Soviet regime's Latvian SSR, whose authority it denied, and claimed direct lineage to the interwar Latvian republic. ...
, by which an alternative government was created that claimed lineage to the interwar government. In this structure, parties developed, which continued after independence in 1991. Two of the parties, the '18th November Union' and 'Fatherland', merged in 1993 to form the centre-right
Centre-right
The centre-right or center-right is a political term commonly used to describe or denote individuals, political parties, or organizations whose views stretch from the centre to the right on the left-right spectrum, excluding far right stances. Centre-right can also describe a coalition of centrist...
'For Fatherland and Freedom' ( or TB). The new party took its name from the inscription on the Freedom Monument
Freedom Monument
The Freedom Monument is a memorial located in Riga, Latvia honoring soldiers killed during the Latvian War of Independence . It is considered an important symbol of the freedom, independence, and sovereignty of Latvia...
, and its focus was on undoing the effects of the Soviet occupation, especially promoting the Latvian language and tightening citizenship laws. The party took part in the 1993 election
Latvian parliamentary election, 1993
Elections for the 5th Saeima, the parliament of Latvia were held on 5 June and 6 June 1993, the first parliamentary elections in Latvia after its independence was restored in 1991....
to the Saeima
Saeima
Saeima is the parliament of the Republic of Latvia. It is a unicameral parliament consisting of 100 members who are elected by proportional representation, with seats allocated to political parties which gain at least 5% of the popular vote. Elections are scheduled to be held once every four years,...
, and won six seats. A party with a similar background, the Latvian National Independence Movement
Latvian National Independence Movement
The Latvian National Independence Movement was a political organization in Latvia from 1988 till mid-1990s.It formed in 1988, as the radical wing of Latvian nationalist movement...
(LNNK), won fifteen seats.
Merger and referenda
TB was the leading force behind two referendum proposals (in 1994 and 1998) to make Latvian citizenship laws stricter. In 1994, the proposition did not gather the necessary number of voter signatures. Before the 1995 electionLatvian parliamentary election, 1995
Elections for 6th Saeima, the parliament of Latvia were held on September 30 and October 1, 1995. There were lists of candidates from 19 political parties. The voter participation was 72.65%, with 965,339 out of 1,328,779 eligible voters casting votes....
, the TB signed a prospective coalition agreement, the centre-right 'National Bloc', with the LNNK and the Latvian Farmers' Union
Latvian Farmers' Union
The Latvian Farmers' Union is a centrist agrarian political party in Latvia. Founded in 1917, it was the most influential right-wing political party between the two World Wars, during the period of Latvian independence from the Russian SFSR in 1918 until its annexation by the Soviet Union in 1940,...
, and presented a more rounded programme, based on the LNNK's, although still concentrating on national identity issues. The party jumped to fourteen seats, becoming one of the four major parties in the Saeima, and leap-frogging the LNNK (which suffered a split from the secession of the populist right
Right-wing populism
Right-wing populism is a political ideology that rejects existing political consensus and combines laissez-faire liberalism and anti-elitism. It is considered "right-wing" because of its rejection of social equality and government programs to achieve it, its opposition to social integration, and...
under Joachim Siegerist
Joachim Siegerist
Werner Joachim Siegerist is a German-Latvian journalist, author and conservative politician. He is chairman of the anti-communist German Conservatives and co-publisher of the Konservative Deutsche Zeitung...
) as the main right-wing party. The party fell just short of a majority, with leader Māris Grīnblats
Māris Grīnblats
Māris Grīnblats is a Latvian politician for For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK .Grīnblats was a member of the Citizens' Congress, and a leader of the 18th November Union that emerged from it. He became the founding leader of For Fatherland and Freedom , a party that was created from 18th November...
's right-wing coalition securing the support of 49 out of 100 deputies for the premiership
Prime Minister of Latvia
The Prime Minister of Latvia is the most powerful member of the Government of the Republic of Latvia, and presides over the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers...
. Instead, a broad centre-right coalition was formed with the TB controlling four ministries under PM Andris Šķēle
Andris Škele
Andris Šķēle is a Latvian politician and Business oligarch. He has served two terms as Prime Minister of Latvia from 21 December 1995 to 7 August 1997, and from 16 July 1999 to 5 May 2000....
.
In 1997, the TB merged with the LNNK to form 'For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK', also known as the 'Conservative Union'. In 1998, the proposal was defeated in a referendum
Latvian citizenship referendum, 1998
The Latvian citizenship referendum, 1998 was a Latvian referendum on amendments to the Citizenship law. The amendments were adopted by the Saeima in June. They increased the opportunities for naturalization and provided the additional option of obtaining Latvian citizenship for non-citizens and...
, by a relatively small margin (45% of voters supporting the change and 52% rejecting it). At the end of the 1990s and the early 2000s, the party shifted its focus to economic issues, as the language and citizenship issues were largely resolved.
Government
Tēvzemei un Brīvībai was a part of coalition governments from December 1995 to February 2004. From 1997 to 1998, its representative, Guntars KrastsGuntars Krasts
Guntars Krasts is a Latvian politician, former Prime Minister, and former Member of the European Parliament for the single Latvia constituency. Born in Riga, he was the Minister of Economy of Latvia from December 1995 to August 1997, Prime Minister of Latvia from August 1997 to November 1998, and...
, was the prime minister
Prime Minister of Latvia
The Prime Minister of Latvia is the most powerful member of the Government of the Republic of Latvia, and presides over the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers...
. From February 2004 until November 2006, the party was in opposition. Although it only gained 8 seats in the 2006 elections, the party was invited to become part of the ruling coalition, and it agreed to join.
Tēvzemei un Brīvībai campaigned as a strong supporter of Latvia's national interests and opponent of
Euroscepticism
Euroscepticism is a general term used to describe criticism of the European Union , and opposition to the process of European integration, existing throughout the political spectrum. Traditionally, the main source of euroscepticism has been the notion that integration weakens the nation state...
a federal Europe. Tēvzemei un Brīvībai won 29% of vote and 4 of Latvia's 9 seats in the 2004 European Parliament election
European Parliament election, 2004 (Latvia)
The European Parliament election of 2004 in Latvia was the election of MEP representing Latvia constituency for the 2004-2009 term of the European Parliament. It was part of the wider 2004 European election. The vote took place on June 12....
. In the 2009 European election
European Parliament election, 2009 (Latvia)
The European Parliament election of 2009 in Latvia involved the election of the delegation from Latvia to the European Parliament in 2009. 17 lists containing a total of 185 candidates were registered for the election....
, the party lost most of its support, falling from nearly 30% to 7.5%, resulting in the loss of 3 of its 4 European seats.
The party attempted to join the centre-right Unity
Unity (Latvia)
Unity is a Latvian centre-right political party, founded as an electoral alliance of the New Era Party, the Civic Union and the Society for Other Politics on 6 March 2010...
electoral alliance
Electoral alliance
An electoral alliance may take the form of a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc. It is an association of political parties or individuals which exists solely to stand in elections...
in 2010, but was rejected. This forced it to join with the more nationalist All For Latvia!
All For Latvia!
All For Latvia! was a nationalist political party in Latvia.All For Latvia! started as a political youth organization in 2000 and became a political party in January 2006, running in 2006 elections. It won 1.48% of vote and no seats in the parliament...
(VL) in the National Alliance
National Alliance (Latvia)
The National Alliance, officially the National Alliance "All For Latvia!" – "For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK" , abbreviated to NA, is a right-wing political party in Latvia. With fourteen seats in the Saeima, the National Alliance is the fourth-largest party in the legislature...
(Nacionālā Apvienība). In the 2010 elections, the Alliance won eight seats, with VL winning six of them and TB/LNNK reduced to two.
In July 2011, both components of the National Alliance agreed to intensify their links and to re-organize the National Alliance as a unitary party under the same name. On TB/LNNK's 17th and last delegate conference, 84 of 90 party representatives agreed with the merger, 3 defeated and 3 abstained.
Ideology
Constitutionally, the party treats the post-1991 Republic of Latvia not as a successor to the inter-war republic, but as a continuation, and considers all acts of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic as illegitimate. The party opposed the naturalisationNaturalization
Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....
of the large population of non-citizens
Non-citizens (Latvia)
Non-citizens in Latvian law are individuals who are not citizens of Latvia or any other country but, who, in accordance with the Latvian law "Regarding the status of citizens of the former USSR who possess neither Latvian nor other citizenship", have the right to a non-citizen passport issued by...
that live in Latvia. The party's stance towards the Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
era lead Guntars Krasts
Guntars Krasts
Guntars Krasts is a Latvian politician, former Prime Minister, and former Member of the European Parliament for the single Latvia constituency. Born in Riga, he was the Minister of Economy of Latvia from December 1995 to August 1997, Prime Minister of Latvia from August 1997 to November 1998, and...
's government to make Latvian Legion Day
Latvian Legion Day
Latvian Legion Day is a day on March 16, when front soldiers of the Latvian Legion, part of the Waffen SS, are commemorated...
a public holiday
Public holiday
A public holiday, national holiday or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year....
, and its members to celebrate the Latvian Legion, which fought against the USSR and alongside Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
The party is an advocate of the free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
. The party's position has shifted over time from interventionism
Economic interventionism
Economic interventionism is an action taken by a government in a market economy or market-oriented mixed economy, beyond the basic regulation of fraud and enforcement of contracts, in an effort to affect its own economy...
to liberalisation. Originally, the party based its statism on the heavy interventionism in the inter-war republic. Of TB/LNNK's predecessors, For Fatherland and Freedom was more sceptical of the free market, while the LNNK supported full privatisation
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
, within the context of a welfare state and protectionism
Protectionism
Protectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between states through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other government regulations designed to allow "fair competition" between imports and goods and services produced domestically.This...
. After the merger, the party adopted free market economics as one of its main emphases, advocating a swift transition to a market economy.
The party holds an anti-federal, soft eurosceptic position. It was the only party to have flirted with opposing membership of the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
before Latvian accession. In March 2003, it changed to supporting membership, fearing that voting no would cause the country to lose support for economic reforms and security policy. The party campaigned in favour of accession in the November 2003 referendum
Latvian European Union membership referendum, 2003
The 2003 Latvian European Union membership referendum took place on 20 September 2003 to decide whether Latvia should join the European Union . Latvia was the last of the states which would join the EU in 2004 to hold a referendum on the issue...
.
The party is a strong advocate for the Latvian language
Latvian language
Latvian is the official state language of Latvia. It is also sometimes referred to as Lettish. There are about 1.4 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and about 150,000 abroad. The Latvian language has a relatively large number of non-native speakers, atypical for a small language...
. For example, it introduced a law mandating the public sector
Public sector
The public sector, sometimes referred to as the state sector, is a part of the state that deals with either the production, delivery and allocation of goods and services by and for the government or its citizens, whether national, regional or local/municipal.Examples of public sector activity range...
to ignore communication in any other language.
At the ECRI
European Commission against Racism and Intolerance
European Commission against Racism and Intolerance is the Council of Europe’s independent human rights monitoring body specialised in combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, antisemitism and intolerance. It consists of 47 experts, one from every CoE member state. ECRI publishes...
high-level panel meeting in 2005, Jean-Yves Camus, a French political scientist, has described the party as "on the borderline between conservative right and far-right" and "an ultra-nationalist party comparable in some respect to the far right".
Political support
A major cleavage in Latvian politics is between ethnic Latvians, from whom TB/LNNK receives almost all of its votes, and ethnic RussiansRussians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
. In the 1998 election
Latvian parliamentary election, 1998
Elections for 7th Saeima, the parliament of Latvia were held on October 3, 1998. There were lists of candidates from 21 political parties, with a total of 1081 candidates...
, ethnic Latvians were fifteen times as likely to vote for the party as ethnic Russians. The 1998 referendum on citizenship
Latvian citizenship referendum, 1998
The Latvian citizenship referendum, 1998 was a Latvian referendum on amendments to the Citizenship law. The amendments were adopted by the Saeima in June. They increased the opportunities for naturalization and provided the additional option of obtaining Latvian citizenship for non-citizens and...
sponsored by TB/LNNK was supported by a majority of Latvians, but defeated overall by ethnic Russians.
The party is supported mostly by the middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
es, with wealthier voters tending to vote either for TB/LNNK or Latvian Way
Latvian Way
Latvian Way was a centre-right liberal party in Latvia. It merged with Latvia's First Party to form the Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way in 2007.It described itself as "a liberal party defending people's freedom to shape their own lives"...
. Before the parties merged in 1997, both TB and the LNNK received the most support from university graduates.
Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
has traditionally been by far the party's strongest area, with 40% of its voters in 1995 coming from the capital city. However, Riga's politics are shifting from a ethno-linguistic cleavage to a socio-economic one, leading to a softening of this disparity in the 2001 local elections.
Unlike most parties in Latvia, TB/LNNK has never based its support on having a particularly popular leader.
International relations and criticism
The party is a member of the Alliance of European Conservatives and ReformistsAlliance of European Conservatives and Reformists
The Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists, abbreviated to AECR, is a centre-right anti-federalist European political party defending broader conservative and classical liberal principles. It consists of twelve parties in nine EU member states and Iceland...
(AECR), allying with, amongst others, the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
, Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Law and Justice
Law and Justice
Law and Justice , abbreviated to PiS, is a right-wing, conservative political party in Poland. With 147 seats in the Sejm and 38 in the Senate, it is the second-largest party in the Polish parliament....
, and the Czech
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
Civic Democratic Party. They sit with the AECR's group, the European Conservatives and Reformists
European Conservatives and Reformists
The European Conservatives and Reformists, abbreviated to ECR, is a conservative anti-federalist political group in the European Parliament. The group currently comprises 57 MEPs, making it the fourth-largest group in the European Parliament....
, in the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
. Until 2009, TB/LNNK was a member of the Alliance for Europe of the Nations
Alliance for Europe of the Nations
The Alliance for Europe of the Nations was a pan-European political party that gathered conservative and national-conservative parties from across the continent.-History:...
and sat with the UEN
Union for Europe of the Nations
Union for Europe of the Nations was a political group of the European Parliament between 1999 and 2009.-History:UEN was formed on 20 July 1999, supplanting the earlier Union for Europe. Its member parties Fianna Fáil and National Alliance were the driving forces behind the group, despite their...
group.
In 2009, British foreign secretary David Miliband
David Miliband
David Wright Miliband is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for South Shields since 2001, and was the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 2007 to 2010. He is the elder son of the late Marxist theorist Ralph Miliband...
has criticized Conservative Chairman Eric Pickles
Eric Pickles
Eric Jack Pickles is a British Conservative Party politician. Pickles was appointed Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government of the coalition government headed by Prime Minister David Cameron on 12 May 2010....
' decision to secure an alliance with TB/LNNK in the ECR group "despite the fact that its members attend commemorations for the Waffen-SS". In a response, William Hague
William Hague
William Jefferson Hague is the British Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State. He served as Leader of the Conservative Party from June 1997 to September 2001...
demanded apology to TB/LNNK and Latvian government from Miliband, describing his remarks as recycling "false Soviet propaganda" and noting that "the majority of parties forming Latvia’s current Government including the Prime Minister’s party, have attended the commemoration of Latvians who fought in the Second World War".
The Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i historian and Nazi-hunter Efraim Zuroff
Efraim Zuroff
Efraim Zuroff is an Israeli historian of American origin, who has played a role in bringing Nazis indicted for war crimes to trial...
, head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center
Simon Wiesenthal Center
The Simon Wiesenthal Center , with headquarters in Los Angeles, California, was established in 1977 and named for Simon Wiesenthal, the Nazi hunter. According to its mission statement, it is "an international Jewish human rights organization dedicated to repairing the world one step at a time...
's Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i office in Jerusalem, criticized the party's "obsession to pay public homage to the Latvian-SS Legion in contradiction to all historical logic and sensitivity to Nazi crimes" in a column for The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
on September 28, 2009, while Vilnius University
Vilnius University
Vilnius University is the oldest university in the Baltic states and one of the oldest in Eastern Europe. It is also the largest university in Lithuania....
professor Dovid Katz
Dovid Katz
Dovid Katz is an American-born, Vilnius-based Judaic studies professor, Yiddish specialist, and political activist, currently living in Lithuania.-Biography:...
, writing that the British Conservatives must not be let "get off the hook for their dalliances with some of the worst racists and Holocaust perverters in eastern Europe," called for Pickles' resignation as chairman in October 2009.
Electoral performance
Electoral performance of TB/LNNK in the Saeima. TB/LNNK is in gold, as is its predecessor For Fatherland and Freedom. The performance of LNNK is in red (1993 and 1995) and that of VL in maroon (2010).Party chairmen
- Māris GrīnblatsMāris GrīnblatsMāris Grīnblats is a Latvian politician for For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK .Grīnblats was a member of the Citizens' Congress, and a leader of the 18th November Union that emerged from it. He became the founding leader of For Fatherland and Freedom , a party that was created from 18th November...
(1997–2002) - Jānis StraumeJānis StraumeJānis Straume is a former Latvian politician for For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK . He was the fourth Speaker of the Saeima since 1991....
(2002–2006) - Roberts ZīleRoberts ZileDr. Roberts Zīle is a Latvian economist and politician and Member of the European Parliament for the National Alliance, a free market national conservative political party in Latvia and part of the European Conservatives and Reformists...
(2006 – present day)