Chair of the Lithuanian Parliament Loreta Grauziniene said that a referendum on the ban of the sale of land to foreigners should take place

Labor Party leader and Chair of the Parliament Grauziniene said that it is necessary to call a referendum on the prohibition of the sale of land to foreigners, despite the warnings that such amendments would be contrary to Lithuania's obligations in the European Union and against the country's own constitution. She said that if people have expressed their interest with the required number of signatures collected for the referendum, the referendum must be held, so there is no question on the matter for her.

The politician also criticized both Lithuania's Central Electoral Commission, saying that it should have allowed the organizers to correct more signatures, and lawyers involved, calling them representatives of the political right. The chair did not name specific lawyers.

Ms. Graužinienė acknowledged that if the referendum resulted in the ban the sale of Lithuanian land to foreigners and laws were amended accordingly, the EU could make complaints, but stressed that the referendum itself would not be subject to any penalties.

Doubts about the legitimacy of the referendum were raised when Lithuania's Constitutional Court declared that without changing the Constitutional Act on Lithuania's EU membership, no amendments to the Constitution that would negate Lithuania's responsibilites as an EU member state can be made.