Butkevičius: One Does Not Have to Believe in Everything that Is Down on Paper

The Prime Minister justifies himself for his interview for “Veidas”.

Prime Minister of Lithuania, Algirdas Butkevičius, accused the media of creating an erroneous picture of his views on spelling of non-Lithuanian surnames in official documents. The Prime Minister declared that his interview for “Veidas” is not veracious.

“Where have you read that there is no need to change anything?”—the Prime Minister asked journalists. The journalists pointed at the interview for “Veidas”. The Prime Minister replied that “one does not have to believe in everything that is down on paper.”

“First of all, I didn’t say that and this is the problem of some people who writes. This aspect is really significant in Lithuania”—explained the Chairman of the Council of Ministers. According to the Prime Minister a working group will prepare appropriate recommendations and the Ministry of Justice—a new legal act.

Currently official documents may contain only the names and the surnames spelled using Lithuania letters that are present in Lithuania alphabet. The Polish minority objects to such spelling because, in its opinion, this rule distorts Polish names and surnames. It also constitutes a problem among native Lithuanians, especially women who married the foreigners.

Source: http://pl.delfi.lt/aktualia/litwa/butkevicius-nie-trzeba-wierzyc-we-wszystko-co-jest-napisane.d?id=60928807

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