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International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Tuesday, 19.03.2024, 04:50

Manabalss.lv portal launches signature drive for "returning" Palanga to Latvia

BC, Riga, 03.07.2015.Print version
A signature drive has been initiated at the manabalss.lv portal of public initiatives, claiming that Palanga "region and maritime territory be returned to the Republic of Latvia", reports LETA.

Janis Kuzins, an activist from the controversial "Association Against Nazism" organization, is the initiator of the signature drive. He explains that returning Palanga to Latvia would "solve the historical dispute about the maritime border between Latvia and Lithuania, and give Latvia back the Palanga region that was, historically, part of the territory of Latvia." Kuzins goes on to say that Latvia would clearly gain from this: "oilfields in the Baltic Sea, independence from imports of energy resources, Butinge Oil Terminal, larger territory, the resort town of Palanga, higher budget revenue, new jobs, and more favorable investment environment."

 

Kuzins wants Saeima to revise the Latvia-Lithuania border treaty with the help of the European Union and Council of Europe, to reclaim Palanga and Sventoji town.

 

According to Kuzins, Latvia handed the area over to Lithuania in 1921 as Lithuania had no access to the Baltic Sea. In 1923, however, Lithuania took Klapieda, thus gaining access to the sea, but Palanga was not returned to Latvia. "If Latvia got back the Palanga Region, there would be no problems with designating the maritime border with Lithuania, plus Latvia would also get oilfields and ensure energy independence from oil imports," said Kuzins.

 

By today, only Kuzins has signed the initiative at the manabalss.lv portal. The initiative was posted on "manabalss" seventeen days ago.

 

In order for the initiative to be submitted to Saeima, it has to collect at least 10,000 signatures.

 

Kuzins is an active member of the so-called "anti-Fascist movement" in Latvia and mostly known for organizing signature drives to hold referendums on various matters, such as granting citizenship to all non-citizens of Latvia, dissolving the 11th Saeima, and suchlike.

 






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