The draft will be proposed to the government, which has also been approached by the parliament over relevant amendments to the Law on State Flag and Other Flags initiated by conservative MPs Kęstutis Masiulis and Stasys Šedbaras.
The two parliamentarians proposed adding additional entries to the list of places and dates of required raising of the state flag. The bill has been approved for discussion in parliament.
According to the current law, the historic flag must be hoisted above the Royal Palace in Vilnius, the Trakai Castle, the War Museum Square in Kaunas. The parliamentarians want the flag raised in all state institutions, old castles, and the Gediminas Castle on certain occasions.
The Interior Ministry's draft suggests that the historic and state flags should not be raised together and the historic flag should not be hoisted at the Gediminas Castle. According to the draft conclusion, raising the historic flag at the Gediminas Castle "would undermine historic and symbolic meaning of continued hoisting of the Lithuanian state flag on the Tower of the Gediminas Castle."
Lithuania's state flag consists of a horizontal tricolor of yellow, green, and red, while the historical flag displays the national emblem - a knight astride a leaping stallion - against the red background.
The historical flag was formalized along the state flag in 2004.
