Lithuania weighs requiring foreign consent for Stulginskis award

Lithuania’s parliament is considering requiring approval from a foreign recipient’s country before awarding its highest honour, the Alexander Stulginskis Star, where that country’s laws call for consent, LRT reported.

The proposed amendments would also require Lithuanian diplomatic missions to provide information on whether the recipient’s country has approved the award. Remigijus Motuzas, chair of the parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, presented the changes on Tuesday.

Motuzas said the proposal aims to prevent situations in which parliament approves an award but it cannot be granted because of legal restrictions in the recipient’s country. Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Poland, Luxembourg, Malta, France and Germany require official consent for their citizens to accept foreign awards, he said. Some other countries require consent only when the recipient works for a state institution, while others need only be notified.

Current law allows the award to go to Lithuanian and foreign individuals and legal entities. It does not require consent from a foreign citizen’s country or documentation confirming approval.

Fifty-eight members of parliament voted in favour of the amendments after their presentation, three voted against and 16 abstained. The proposal will be considered by the parliament’s Education and Science Committee before returning to the plenary chamber on November 19.

On October 7, parliament adopted separate amendments barring serving Lithuanian politicians and political or personal confidence civil servants from receiving the award. Once those rules take effect, the ban will apply to the president, members of parliament and the government, as well as other politicians and political or personal confidence civil servants.

The parliament established the Alexander Stulginskis Star to honour the legacy of Stulginskis and recognise contributions to parliamentary, democratic and statehood ideals. Up to two awards may be granted each year, with the award presented on May 15, the anniversary of the Constituent Assembly’s first sitting. The first recipients, in 2022, were former president Valdas Adamkus and US Senator Richard Joseph Durbin.