Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has signed into law the bill on the original spelling of non-Lithuanian names in Latin-based characters.
"The Seimas took up the initiative to find a complex balance between two constitutional values – the protection of the state language's uniqueness and human rights like a person's right to respect for private and family life, the right to move freely, the protection of the right of a person belonging to an ethnic minority to have their name and surname spelt in a more acceptable way defined by law," the president said in a statement issued on Tuesday by his press service.
"I hope that during the adoption of its implementing legislation, the constitutional status of the state language and proper respect for the Lithuanian language system and uniqueness will be ensured," Nausėda said.
Earlier this month, the Lithuanian parliament allowed the original spelling of names in Latin-based characters in personal documents.
The bill allows using the letters "q", "x" and "w", which do not exist in the Lithuanian alphabet.
Read more: Lithuanian parliament allows letters x, w and q in ID documents
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