Politics
President signs citizenship amendments into law
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė has signed amendments to the Law on Citizenship, allowing people with “great merit” to the Lithuanian state to keep dual citizenship. […]
Constitutional Court
Politics
Parliament endorses resolution blaming Constitutional Court for violating rights of impeached president Paksas
The Seimas, the Lithuanian Parliament, has approved the findings of the ad hoc commission tasked with probing the implementation of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) decision in the case of impeached former president Rolandas Paksas. […]
Energy
Lithuania’s Constitutional Court rules fracking is OK
The Constitutional Court of Lithuania ruled on Wednesday that hydraulic fracturing waste can be buried underground. […]
Politics
Failed Paksas vote was calculated move by Labour Party, observer says
A failed vote in the Lithuanian Seimas on Tuesday will prevent the leader of the ruling Order and Justice party, Rolandas Paksas, to run for parliament in next year’s elections. Observers say the situation has been engineered by the Labour Party which wants to steal Paksas’ voters. […]
Politics
MEP Guoga does not give up plans to run for Seimas despite dual citizenship issue
A Lithuanian member of the European Parliament, Antanas Guoga, who has Australian citizenship, has recently discovered that Lithuanian laws do not allow foreign citizens to run in parliamentary elections. Guoga was planning to be a candidate of the Liberal Movement party in Vilkaviškis single-member constituency and challenge the incumbent Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius in 2016. […]
Global LT
Lithuanians born abroad to be allowed dual citizenship
The Lithuanian parliament has endorsed a bill allowing Lithuanians who are born abroad to retain dual citizenship. […]
Politics
No changes to Lithuania’s electoral system before 2016 general elections
Heads of political groups in the Seimas, the Parliament of Lithuania, on Wednesday met with Speaker of the Seimas Loreta Graužinienė to discuss the implementation of the Constitutional Court‘s ruling on the size of electoral constituencies. A decision was reached that the parliamentary election system will not be changed for the 2016 general elections. […]
Politics
Voters will not be able to ‘move’ right before municipal elections
President Dalia Grybauskaitė has signed amendments to the Law on Elections to Municipal Councils which she herself initiated and which were adopted by parliament. The amendments are aimed at ensuring greater election transparency. […]
Politics
How will Lithuanians be electing their parliament?
The recent ruling by Lithuania’s Constitutional Court, saying that there is too much variation in size among the country’s voting districts, has caused some havoc with only a year left until the next general elections. A group of social democratic MPs have even suggested a radical change in Lithuania’s voting system, although other parties are rather sceptical about the proposal. […]
Society
Soviet killings of Lithuanian partisans not a genocide, ECHR rules
There is no basis for equating post-war Soviet persecution of partisans in Lithuania with genocide, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled. […]
Politics
Lithuanian government under pressure to redraw constituencies before next elections
Lithuania’s Constitutional Court issued a ruling on Tuesday, saying that disparities in voter numbers in each of Lithuania’s 71 constituencies were unconstitutional. This puts pressure on Lithuanian lawmakers to make necessary adjustments before the next general elections next year. […]
Politics
Variation in constituency sizes is unconstitutional, Lithuania’s top court rules
Lithuania’s Constitutional Court ruled on Tuesday that current regulations concerning the size of electoral constituencies is unconstitutional. […]
Global LT
World Lithuanian Community leader: Lithuania was a different country when I left
Lithuania has recently commemorated 25 years of freedom. A member of multiple international organisations and by all accounts a success, the country still suffers from emigration. […]
Global LT
New leader of Lithuanian World Community cautions against hasty referendum on dual citizenship
Dalia Henke from Germany, who has been elected the new board chairman of the Lithuanian World Community, believes Lithuania should not rush to hold a referendum on dual citizenship, pointing to a lack of agreement on the issue among political parties. […]
Politics
Lithuanian parliament wants top court stripped of right to rule on budget issues
The Lithuanian Seimas Committee on Budget and Finance is asking the country’s government to draft amendments to the Law on the Constitutional Court, which, if adopted, would strip the top court of the right to decide on budget and financial issues, the Lietuvos Rytas daily reports. […]
Society
Dual citizenship in limbo if referendum in Lithuania fails
A sociological poll has revealed that many people approve of legalising dual citizenship and would vote in favour of the proposal in a referendum. According to political scientist Algis Krupavičius, a referendum on dual citizenship might be successful if the matter was presented as the interest of the state and if numerous parties campaigned together. […]
Economy
New taxes may be introduced if more personal income tax is allocated to Vilnius, expert says
On Thursday, 11 June, Lithuania’s Constitutional Court ruled that legal regulations that distribute personal income tax (PIT) to municipal budgets contravened the Constitution. Only 40 percent of PIT used to be transferred to Vilnius City Municipality based on these regulations. The Vilnius authorities have lauded the ruling which will allow it to claim more tax money from the central government. […]
Economy
Constitutional court rules against cap on income tax share for Vilnius
Limiting Vilnius‘ share of personal income tax revenues collected in the city goes against the Constitution, the Constitutional Court said on Thursday in a ruling that will take effect on January 2, 2016. […]
Politics
Lithuanian parliament gives initial backing to dual citizenship referendum
The Seimas of Lithuania on Tuesday gave its initial backing to a proposal to call a binding referendum on dual citizenship which would be held on the same day as the general elections next October. […]
Global LT
Lithuanian expatriates don’t think dual citizenship referendum would be successful
Lithuanian communities abroad view the parliament’s initiative to hold a referendum on dual citizenship in 2016 as “politicizing”, saying the odds are low for the referendum to be successful under the current requirements. […]