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International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Thursday, 28.03.2024, 16:37

Lithuanian public group claims to have collected 67,000 signatures on name-spelling

BC, Vilnius, 04.11.2015.Print version
A group of public activists in Lithuania claims to have collected the necessary signatures to submit a draft bill to the parliament on the spelling of non-Lithuanian names in documents, informs LETA/BNS.

Titled For the Official Lithuanian Language, the group suggests that non-Lithuanian should only be allowed on the additional page of the passport.

 

The group intends to present the collected signatures to the Central Electoral Commission on Wednesday, saying it has collected 67,000 signatures of Lithuanian citizens over two months.

 

The civil group intends to exercise the Constitutional right of citizens' legislative initiative and submit the bill to the parliament, which will have to address the draft law. The group had to collect a minimum of 50,000 signatures in support of the initiative.

 

Polish politicians in Lithuania and their supporters in Warsaw have repeatedly urged Lithuania to allow the original spelling of Polish last names in documents, for instance, with the character w that does not exist in the Lithuanian alphabet. Supporters of the amendments maintain the changes would be important for Lithuanians married to foreign citizens, while critics say the scheme would undermine the Constitutional status of the Lithuanian language and may make it difficult to read the non-Lithuanian names.






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