Why are the Landsbergiai family and the conservatives ruining the referendum on the preservation of citizenship for the second time?

    "On May 12, together with the first round of the presidential elections of the Republic of Lithuania, a referendum will be held on the preservation of Lithuanian citizenship. 

 

The question of the referendum is simple: will Lithuanian citizens who have acquired Lithuanian citizenship by birth be able to retain it if they acquire the citizenship of another country?

 

     Everything would seem simple, if it were not for the Homeland Union - Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD), which once again destroys a good idea... A little bit of history that you have already forgotten. The issue of preserving citizenship in Lithuania on May 12. will not be considered for the first time. In 2019, when we (the farmers' party) were in power, we held a referendum on this issue.

 

     This issue was not resolved that time. 

 

Although slightly more than 53 percent voted in the referendum of Lithuanian citizens with the right to vote and a large majority of them supported the preservation of citizenship, but the amendment of the Constitution had to be supported by at least half of all Lithuanian citizens, which is possible only with absolute support.

 

     There was no absolute support in 2019, because TS-LKD (conservatives) with its honorary chairman Vytautas Landsbergis at the forefront strongly opposed this idea of a referendum. Our wording was as follows and it was approved due to its compliance with the interests of national security, usefulness for the expatriate and Lithuania:

 

     "Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania is acquired at birth and on other grounds established by the constitutional law. A citizen of the Republic of Lithuania by origin, who has acquired the citizenship of a state that meets the criteria of European and transatlantic integration chosen by the Republic of Lithuania established by the constitutional law, does not lose the citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania. In other cases, a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania cannot be a citizen of another state at the same time, except for the exceptions established by the constitutional law. The procedure for acquiring and losing citizenship is determined by the constitutional law."

 

     V. Landsbergis then criticized us with the following words: "Changing the Constitution due to dual citizenship is a rough way, and a referendum on this is a good tool to antagonize people and raise tension in Lithuania." After we organized the referendum in 2019, only  Landsbergis and others TS-LKD satellites objected to his idea and wording.

 

     But let's see what the Conservatives have proposed now. In 2019, they failed to amend the Constitution, although they themselves now proposed to change the Constitution. Only from the wording of the amendment to the Constitution did they remove all safeguards so that Lithuanian citizenship could not be preserved by persons acquiring the citizenship of states hostile to Lithuania.

 

     Their proposed amendment to the Constitution now reads as follows: "Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania is acquired at birth and on other grounds and procedures established by the constitutional law. The Constitutional Law also establishes the grounds and procedure for the loss of citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania."

 

     The current referendum campaign is very sluggish. It is so slow that it is not clear which part of the people who are going to vote in the Presidential elections know that a referendum on the preservation of citizenship will be held on the same day. The statistics are merciless and the numbers are not encouraging. In addition, only about 50,000 people registered to participate in the May Presidential elections and the referendum on multiple citizenship. of Lithuanians living abroad, when according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Migration, about 461 thousand Lithuanians live abroad.

 

     Why are the Landsbergis and Ingrida Šimonytė so calm when just over ten percent of Lithuanian citizens, for whom this constitutional amendment is the most relevant, registered to participate in the referendum? The answer is simple: neither in 2019 nor now do they want the referendum to succeed. They need to imitate the efforts of organizing a referendum and get the votes of Lithuanian citizens living abroad in the elections. They understand that that part of Lithuanian citizens in emigration, who do not see the point of participating in the referendum, would hardly vote for the conservatives in the elections, so they do not make efforts to activate them.

 

     Although I am absolutely sure that the referendum question on amending the Constitution will not receive the expected support and the current government is to blame for that, I will vote "yes" in the referendum myself and I invite everyone to do so. We must once again show that the majority of active citizens support the desire of our emigrated compatriots to preserve Lithuanian citizenship."