Estonia called for the abolition of the category of stateless persons
It is necessary to abolish the category of stateless persons in Estonia within the next 10 years. This was announced on January 17 by the country's Minister of Education and Science, leader of the parliamentary party Eesti 200 Kristina Kallas.
"Today, children with this status continue to be born in Estonia, which means we are creating this category again. Therefore, we need to stop issuing such passports to children born in Estonia as soon as possible," ERR quoted her as saying.
Kallas also urged people in their 30s and 40s to apply for Estonian passports. In her opinion, there should be no more people with uncertain citizenship status left in the country. She emphasized the importance of this initiative, which Estonia should strive for.
According to the portal's data, in 2024 there will be approximately 60 thousand stateless people in the republic. This population group emerged after Estonia separated from the USSR, but since then the authorities have not taken serious measures to significantly reduce the number of non-citizens.
Earlier in the day it became known that the Estonian authorities do not intend to introduce new restrictions on entry for citizens of Russia and Belarus, following Latvia, where the parliament of the country introduced a bill proposing to tighten the rules for citizens entering from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The Latvian government is considering plans to introduce fines of up to €2,000 for citizens of Russia, Belarus and other CIS countries if they refuse to provide information about themselves.