Estonia to Take 2nd Look at Foreigners Law

TALLINN, Estonia — Parliament will reconsider a citizenship law that classifies most Russians as foreigners after President Lennart Meri refused Wednesday to sign the controversial bill.

“I have taken this step after much deliberation,” the president said in a nationwide television address Wednesday evening. “I want to be sure that all the people in Estonia will be treated fairly.”

Meri told Estonians that Parliament will meet this morning to reconsider the so-called law on foreigners and the law on local elections, also termed discriminatory by Estonia’s Russian minority.

The president’s refusal to sign the bill automatically returned it to the Parliament of the tiny Baltic nation.

Meri said he decided not to sign the law after consulting with Estonian legal advisers, the Council of Europe and the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE).

Legal experts of the council have criticized the law for not protecting foreigners in Estonia and failing to conform to European immigration standards.

The head of the CSCE’s commission on minorities, Max van der Stoel, also criticized the measure and suggested either amending or dropping eight various sections.

Some Estonian legislators who appeared on television Wednesday said they favored making some amendments but were reluctant to incorporate all the changes suggested by the CSCE.

If Parliament refuses to make any changes to the law and Meri refuses to sign it a second time, the bill would go to the Supreme Court for a final judgment.

The legislation has caused an uproar in both Moscow and in Estonia, where nearly a third of the 1.6 million people are Russian-speakers who would be classified as aliens.