Latvians are voting Saturday on a referendum on whether to make Russian the country's second official language.

The vote has also brought up the issue of whether Russian could also become an official language of the EU.

Under Latvian legislation, the initiative would have to be backed by 50% of the 1.5 million eligible voters to pass, which pollsters say is hardly likely to happen.
If the bid comes through, Riga may have to escalate the question to an EU level, news portal EUobserver notes.

In this case, the other 26 EU countries may try to reach consensus on making Russian a fully-fledged official EU language, with EU funds used to translate all EU documents and provide interpretation at all meetings.

The easier option would be to make Russian a "co-official" EU tongue, with Latvia covering the costs of using Russian on selected papers and events.

Around one third of Latvians are Russian speakers, but the figure climbs to 60% in some rural areas.

The poll comes in response to efforts by a far-right party in the ruling coalition, the National Alliance, to ban Russian from visiting Latvian schools.

Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis has urged people to vote No.

His appeal was backed by Latvian President Andris Berzi?s, who urged the people to "protect [the] Latvian language."

For some Latvians, the initiative is a storm in a teacup.

"It's purely political. In normal life there is no problem. Many Latvians speak Russian and Russian people know Latvian very well," Kristine Berzina, the spokesperson of the country's Central Election Commission (CEC) told EUobserver.

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