Baltic States – CIS, Latvia, Legislation, Real Estate

Bordans believes that a few exceptions may be made, but they must not become a system where one group of people has to return multiple properties or pay compensation to another group of people, writes LETA.

As reported, the Justice Ministry has removed the Jewish restitution problem from its agenda, saying that the problem should be solved through political debate in parliament.

The Council of the Jewish Communities in Latvia has established that Jewish organizations owned a total of approximately 270 buildings and land parcels in Latvia before June 17, 1940. "If there were any doubts about the property rights to an object, it was not included in the list of them. The list was submitted to Saeima already in 2006, although at that time it included around 300 objects, as private property was also listed – which have now been removed from the list in accordance with the international practice that heirless landlords' property goes to the state," said the Council of the Jewish Communities of Latvia Executive Director Gita Umanovska.

Bordans' predecessor Gaidis Berzins announced his resignation on June 20, stating that he and the prime minister had conflicting opinions about Jewish property restitution. The premier accepted Berzins' resignation the next day.

The ruling coalition has agreed that political consultations on the Jewish restitution issue would continue after all Saeima groups meet with representatives from the Council of the Jewish Communities in Latvia.

After debates resumed about Jewish restitution issue, Latvia's Russian Community and Roma Association of Latvia also mentioned that they might consider claiming back properties that belonged to Russian and Roma organizations before the war.