In Estonia, only those who know the state language are recruited into the army – are there any such plans in Latvia?
Recently, Estonian media reported that starting in 2026, only young people who possess the Estonian language at a level no lower than B1 will be called up for compulsory military service in Estonia. This requirement is explained by the fact that weak language skills do not allow soldiers to understand the material being taught, LSM+ reports.
In Latvia, however, such restrictions are not even being discussed yet, noted the deputy director of the National Defense Service Department of the Ministry of Defense, Aija Freiberg: “We currently have no such plans because we have not yet identified signals that there are problems in this area.
Of course, we know that there are young people with varying levels of proficiency in the state language. But now, in collaboration with the NVS, we have received information that even those with poorer language skills adapt quite quickly during their service because the young person enters a Latvian language environment, and they already have some preliminary knowledge, of course. This is assessed, and the result is successful. This is also a positive example of integration: knowledge of the state language improves.”