Political observer Kęstutis Girnius says it would have been understandable if the minister had expressed regret. But, in his opinion, the words of apology in an interview to Poland's largest newspapers might have negative consequences.
"States rarely apologize. Sometimes they need to. For example, it was needed when President Algirdas Brazauskas apologized for the massacre of Jews in the Knesset in 1995. But I really doubt that we need to apologize for a political vote. We can have regrets about that," the lecturer of the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University told BNS.
According to Girnius, the key issue is on whose behalf the minister said the words of apology. "It is important whether he apologized on behalf of the government or the state. If he did that on behalf of the state, then had it been coordinated with the president? When you are a minister and talk to the press, you cannot talk on your own behalf only," he said.
The expert says there's a risk that Linkevičius' words will be misinterpreted and considered an apology not for a specific move but for the situation of Polish people in Lithuania in general.
"It might have negative consequences and make an impression that all Polish reproaches in the last two or three years have been perfectly founded," Girnius said.
Šarūnas Liekis, a professor at Vytautas Magnus University, is of a different opinion. In his opinion, the minister's gesture was adequate and was aimed at improving bilateral relations.
"The relations have been pushed into a standstill since 2008. Obviously, someone had to make the first move. The minister made the move, to my mind, perfectly adequately. The problem itself and inability to solve is the problem of the Lithuanian and not the Polish side," Liekis told BNS.
Antanas Kulakauskas, another professor of Vytautas Magnus University, drew attention to the fact that the Constitution limits opportunities for legalizing name-spelling using non-Lithuanian characters.
"Apologies are always good but I don't know if the minister is aware of the Constitutional Court's ruling. The Constitutional Court explained that the problem is in the Constitution. So the minister is apologizing for the fact that the Constitution is the way it is and not some other way. It's a bit strange," Kulakauskas told BNS.
In an interview to Polish dailies Rzeczpospolita and Gazeta Wyborcza on Thursday on the eve of his visit to Poland, Lithuania's Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius apologized for the 2010 vote that was held on the day of arrival of Poland's then President Lech Kaczynski.
"It is a big disgrace. President Lech Kaczynski was a good friend of Lithuania. Unfortunately, this happened during his visit. I was not a member of the parliament at the time but I'd like to apologize," the minister said in an interview published by the Rzeczpospolita daily on Thursday.
"I am so ashamed of what happened at the time. It's a painful lesson for us," he told Gazeta Wyborcza.
In April 2010, the Seimas of Lithuanian voted down a bill by the Government of Andrius Kubilius on allowing to write Latin-based surnames in ID documents in the original form without transcribing them in Lithuanian.
The bill was backed by eight conservatives MPs, 11 voted against and 15 abstained. The bill was also supported by a single social democrat, ex-Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas. Three Social Democrats voted against, and eight, including incumbent Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius, abstained.
Butkevičus' government promises in its program to "resolve the issue of name spelling in ID documents and the issue of spelling of street and location names in compliance with the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities."
