Should Estonians with two passports give up one?
A court in Tallinn has ruled that a woman must choose between her Estonian and Russian passport, prompting many Estonians to fear that this will set a precedent and put an end to current practice. Although dual citizenship is banned by law, authorities have turned a blind eye up to now. People who could potentially be affected air their opinions and experiences.
Late love must also be given a chance
Eesti Päevaleht reprints a Facebook post by Luukas Ilves, son of former Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves:
“If I'd had to choose when I was 18 between the Estonian and the US passport, it would have been unthinkable for me to give up my US passport. Because that would have meant not only that I would have had to leave the US, the country in which I grew up and where I'd just been offered a place at the best university in the world, but that I'd have had to say farewell to the country in whose complicated history my mother's family has been bound up for the past three hundred years. ... Eleven months after my 18th birthday my father became Estonia's president - that would have been the ultimate irony. As an adult I've fallen in love with Estonia, with the courage and solidarity of its citizens who in hard times have stood up for values that count: family, homeland, freedom and democracy.”
Estonia should keep young citizens
Airis Meier, founder of the Facebook group "The right to remain Estonian" also makes the case for the right to choose in Õhtuleht:
“Nowadays dual citizenship is mainly for people whose parents have different passports, as with my children, whose father is Dutch. ... The argument that people want to retain dual citizenship to secure certain advantages is not true. According to the law state benefits are always contingent on the place of residence; the passport is irrelevant. ... Estonians living abroad dedicate innumerable hours to promoting their home country and its culture and to rearing their children as Estonians. The state hasn't spent a penny on these children. If they now lose their citizenship, the state will lose young citizens.”