Graužinienė doubts current Seimas will pass name-spelling law

I see no possibility of including this (into the agenda) by Oct. 9, because we have only two (plenary sittings) left,” Graužinienė said at a news conference on Thursday.

“I very much doubt that we will be able to resolve this issue during the current (parliamentary) term, because, as far as I know, the opinions of members of the Seimas have not changed. They are practically divided into two camps, which makes it difficult to adopt a decision,” she said.

The speaker noted that the parliament’s Committee on Education, Science and Culture had not yet discussed a citizens’ legislative initiative regarding the spelling of non-Lithuanian names.

A steering group in the fall of 2015 collected over 50,000 signatures of citizens in favor of amendments to the Law on Personal Identification Card and Passport.

The amendments call for allowing the original spelling of a person’s non-Lithuanian forename and surname in Latin characters on the second page of his or her ID card and passport if he or she requests so. These names would be spelt in the official Lithuanian language on the first page of the document.

In Graužinienė ‘s words, the proposed amendments have to be discussed by the committee before they can be put before the full parliament.

Related Post

Vilnius courts have in recent years issued several rulings ordering that the first and last names of Lithuanian citizens should be spelt in their identity documents using non-Lithuanian characters if there are grounds to do so.

For example, the surname of a child born to a Lithuanian mother and a foreign father must be spelt with “w” if the father’s surname has the letter, even though it does not exist in the Lithuanian alphabet.

Politicians of the Polish community in Lithuania and their supporters in Warsaw have repeatedly called on Lithuania’s authorities to allow the original spelling of Polish names in documents.

Supporters say that the amendments are also important for Lithuanian women married to foreigners.

Critics, meanwhile, maintain that this would undermine the status of the official language and could cause difficulties reading the non-Lithuanian names.

In its program approved in late 2012, the government pledged “to resolve the issues of the spelling of forenames and surnames in identify documents and of streets and places”. However, the ruling parties kept pushing back dates for adopting these decisions.

Share

Recent Posts

  • Foreign affairs

“No need to mince words”: an assessment of what Trump’s victory means for Lithuania

"We can shout very loudly, but it won't change the position of the American people,"…

2 weeks ago
  • Latest

Lies, disrespect and mockery: experts assess Blinkevičiūtė’s “gift” to voters without scruples

From mocking messages flooding social networks to harsh criticism from political experts, the decision of…

3 weeks ago
  • Foreign affairs

Another year in the sovereign history of Kazakhstan

Republic Day has been celebrated in Kazakhstan as the main national date since 2022, giving…

4 weeks ago
  • Defence

In the assessment of NATO’s readiness for war with Russia, there is also a warning about the Baltic states: what is the Kremlin’s wild card?

According to Lrytas.lt, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) faces a new geopolitical reality with…

4 weeks ago
  • Tribune

The Citus projects: The Kaip Niujorke by CITUS project continues – the spirit of New York unfolds in Vilnius, and the second phase is launching

In September, Citus – a creative real estate projects’ development and placemaking company – began…

4 weeks ago
  • Latest

These parties will enter the Seimas for the third time in a row. How many votes did they lose, and how many did they gain?

As various parties emerge, disappear or reorganize themselves in the political space, the Lithuanian Social…

1 month ago