This paper explores changing language education policies and implementation processes in Central/Eastern Europe. There are conflicting language policy orientations that govern the scene, resulting from post‐independence attempts on the one hand to strengthen the position of the national (state) language, and on the other to function as EU member states that respect multilingualism. In democratising society, participatory strategies are increasingly deployed with the aim of involving as many interest groups as possible in language policy development and decision‐making processes. Proposals on the development and compulsory implementation in Lithuanian schools of early foreign language education have engendered language ideological debates among different stakeholders.