“The Constitutional Court today cleared doubts and gave a clear answer that had triggered heated discussions within the society. It is now entirely clear that the only way of settling the issue of dual citizenship – amendment of the Constitution by way of referendum,” Grybauskaitė told BNS via her press service.
Earlier on Friday, the court ruled that g ranting dual Lithuanian citizenship to a broader circle of individual sis only possible after changing the country’s Organic Law by way of a referendum.
The parliament had asked the court to establish whether dual citizenship should be allowed for citizens who left Lithuania for EU and NATO countries after the country regained independence in 1990.
According to the Organic Law, nobody can be a citizen of Lithuania and another country at the same time, except for individual cases stipulated by law.
The Constitutional Court ruled back in 2013 that the provision meant dual citizenship could not be a common phenomenon, therefore, a law on dual citizenship for people who emigrated during the post-independence years would run counter to the Constitution. According to the ruling, expanding the boundaries of dual citizenship is only possible by changing of the Constitution by referendum.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis said politicians would have to hold a referendum on Constitutional amendments, if the court does not pave way for dual citizenship.
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