Kubilius: Are bilingual street names consistent with the Constitution?

Andrius Kubilius, the former Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania is sceptical about the new government plans to introduce bilingual names of streets and localities in areas inhabited by ethnic minorities.

”I rate this as promises that need to be examined very carefully to see if they are not inconsistent with the Constitution. I’d like to point out that both in case of names and street names there are many explanations given by the Constitutional Court concerning the State Language Act. We discussed it a lot during our tenure. It’s worth paying attention to this issue”, said Kubilius to the journalists.

In the government program the new centre-left coalition promises to solve the problems which have been discussed by the AWPL politicians for years and which are an obstacle to the normalization of relations with Poland. ”A new draft law on ethnic minorities is due to be created. A new department will be created which will deal with issues relating to national minorities. We will also solve the issue of names and bilingual inscriptions having regard to the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, says the government program which is to be approved by the Sejm.

The new ruling coalition also promises to extend the transitional period for the entry into force of a unified examination of the Lithuanian language.

Source: http://pl.delfi.lt/aktualia/litwa/kubilius-czy-dwujezyczne-nazwy-ulic-nie-sa-sprzeczne-z-konstytucja.d?id=60193537

Tłumaczenie Milena Jajkowska w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Milena Jajkowska the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.