Ar Lietuva ratifikavo ES konstituciją?
Whether Lithuania ratified EU constitution?

Summary/Abstract: Lithuania was the first EU Member State that ratified the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe. Provisions of the Treaty require that it be ratified according to the constitutional provisions of the member states. Constitutional norms, depending on the legal power of the document, provide for different approval and ratification procedures. Documents that involve issues that are of an utmost importance to the State and its people are to be approved by an order of a referendum, however ratification of international agreements falls in the field of competency of the Seimas. Analytical, comparative, logical and historical analysis of European and Lithuanian law had revealed that the Treaty Establishing the Constitution for Europe is a multilateral international agreement and a parliamentary ratification procedure should be applied. Moreover, the Treaty is a part of the sequence of the main EU establishment and integration treaties, therefore it logically follows that it should also be interpreted as a treaty. The treaty is not, in essence, a newly created document because it codifies and compiles the main existing EU treaties and does not in any way modify their goals, aims, and essence. Therefore, according to its historical development and goals provided in its content, it should be interpreted as a multilateral international agreement. The Seimas ratified the Treaty Establishing the Constitution of Europe by parliamentary procedure, i.e., procedure for ratifying international agreements. In the light of the conclusions made, the answer to the question is that the Seimas chose a proper procedure for ratification of the Treaty, and ratified a multilateral international agreement of the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe. Therefore it follows, that Lithuania did not ratify EU Constitution.

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