"We have no plans to take these steps yet," Butkevičius said in an interview to the Lithuanian Radio on Tuesday when asked whether he would back Tamašunienė's proposal.
"Comprehensive proposals on the solution of certain issues related to ethnic minorities are being drafted. (...) I believe the Cabinet will receive these proposals and then we'll all discuss them at a meeting of the Strategic Committee. We will draft a bill based on all those proposals and put it before the Seimas. We believe it will be submitted by July 1," the prime minister said.
Tamašunienė is suggesting restoring the Law on National Minorities until a new law is drafted and adopted. The MP has registered a draft resolution on the restoration of the 1991 Law on National Minorities adopted by the Supreme Council-the Reconstituent Seimas.
The law was in force from 1991 until 2010 and envisaged the use of bilingual information signs in areas with predominant populations of non-Lithuanian speakers.
Tamašunienė says the reason behind her proposal is that non-Lithuanians make up around 16 percent of the country's population. "Taking into account such a large number of ethnic minority residents, it is important to have a law defending their rights and regulating the ethnic minority situation in Lithuania," the MP said.
