Lithuanian government backs referendum on dual citizenship

The government of Lithuania said on Wednesday tha it backed the idea of holding a referendum on dual citizenship.

During a sitting, the cabinet approved the idea initiated by a group of lawmakers to hold the referendum alongside with parliamentary elections on Oct. 9, 2016, announced the government.

The backing from the government needs an approval at the Seimas, the Lithuanian parliament.

According to the government's proposal, the second part of the Constitution's 12th article should be changed. It currently stipulates that "Lithuanian citizens by birth who have acquired a citizenship of other country retain their Lithuanian citizenship. Other persons cannot be citizens of both Lithuanian and another state, except individual cases provided by law."

According to Justice Minister Juozas Bernatonis, the changes are being offered in order to prioritize the preservation of Lithuania's citizenship for Lithuanian emigrants and their children.

Meanwhile, the group of lawmakers has offered to make the second part of the Constitution's 12th article obsolete during the referendum.

Lithuanian communities living abroad have been urging the country to find possibilities to adopting dual citizenship, if possible without holding a referendum and adopting changes to the Constitution.

Lithuania's Constitutional Court has ruled that cases of dual citizenship should exist as rare exceptions rather than a matter of course.

Under the current legislation, dual citizenship is allowed only for those who fled the country during 1940-1990, but not for those who acquired foreign citizenship after the independency restoration in 1990.