"There are no major objections to wider use of the historical flag. If the Seimas wants to honor Lithuania's history this way, we see no problems in the government's area of responsibility," Kubilius told journalists.
According to the premier, the government wants to give local authorities more freedom in deciding on hoisting the historical flag, showing a white knight against red background.
"We will present several proposals, for example, allowing local authorities to decide themselves when to hoist it, and what regards state institutions, I believe, we'll make a decision similar to what the Seimas proposed," Kubilius said.
Minister of the Interior Artūras Melianas said the historical flag should be hoisted at historical places, but he was skeptical about proposals to hoist the flag on diplomatic representations.
"We propose expanding its use at historical places, including castles, museums, but its wider use on diplomatic representations or all state institutions would not be sensible," the minister said.
Meanwhile Minister of Justice Remigijus Šimašius is in favor of "recommendatory" use of the historical flag, and believes that every institution should decide on the issue individually.
"The historical flag is great, we had a great discussion in the government. It is absolutely appropriate on some buildings. And everywhere else it should be a recommended thing, but the specific institution should decide on a situational basis," Šimašius said.
Currently, the state historic flag is permanently hoisted at three locations: the Palace of Grand Dukes of Lithuania, Trakai Island Castle, and the grounds of the Vytautas the Great War Museum in Kaunas. Lithuanian lawmakers would like to see the flag hoisted near and/or on the buildings of some other state institutions and old castles. Based on the proposal, the historical flag would be hoisted on Gediminas Castle on the Day of Mindaugas' Coronation on 6 July and on the Day of the Battle of Grunwald on 15 July.
Meanwhile, the World Lithuanian Community has spoken against wider use of the country's historical flag as it would bring more confusion.
In 2004, along with the Law on the Lithuanian State Flag, the Lithuanian Seimas legalized the state historic flag. Historically, this flag was used during the Battle of Grunwald, and served as the government flag for Central Lithuania from 1922 until 1939.
