Dvigubos (daugybinės) pilietybės Konstitucinės vizijos

ENParagraph 2 of Article 12 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania states that “With the exception of individual cases provided for by law, no one may be a citizen of both the Republic of Lithuania and another state at the same time”. This provision means that cases where a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania may at the same time be a citizen of another state may be very rare (exceptional), and multiple citizenship cannot be a widespread phenomenon. In order to expand the possibilities for the citizens of the Republic of Lithuania to be citizens of other states at the same time, it is necessary to amend Paragraph 2 of Article 12 of the Constitution, which can be done only by referendum. In the referendum on the amendment of Article 12 of the Constitution, held on 12 May 2018, the question to be answered was whether the voters approve that “a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania, having acquired citizenship of the state that meets the criteria, established by a constitutional law, of European and transatlantic integration chosen by the Republic of Lithuania, shall not lose citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania”. The amendment to Article 12 of the Constitution was not approved by referendum. When further discussing the amendment of Article 12 of the Constitution, it is necessary to see the relationship of this article with other articles of the Constitution: the provision of Article 34 that all citizens of the Republic of Lithuania who have reached the age of 18 have the electoral right, as well as with Article 56, according to which a person who also holds citizenship of another state may not stand for election as a member of the Seimas.It is also important to discuss whether, after allowing multiple citizenship to be a widespread phenomenon, it will be possible to implement Article 139 of the Constitution, according to which Lithuanian citizens must perform military or alternative national defence service in the manner prescribed by law.