„More could have been done in 100 days. However, it seems to me that those 100 days in the Seimas were mostly used for the chitchat between the coalition partners,“ Čmilytė-Nielsen told Žinių Radijas on Friday morning.
„I missed the constructiveness. If we remember the hottest topic in the 100 days, it was the topic of the Deputy Speaker of Seimas, the most talked about topic, and many headlines.
She stressed that it is likely to come up again in one way or another in the spring session, but from the point of view of the state, even from the point of view of the work of the Parliament, it is completely meaningless. It is simply information noise that diverts attention from the fact that the agenda is empty.
Susiję straipsniai
„The new Seimas, which opened last autumn, has a ruling majority of three political forces: the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP), which won the parliamentary elections, signed a coalition agreement with the Nemuno Aušra (Dawn of Nemunas) and the Democratic Union In the Name of Lithuania (Vardan Lietuvos), both led by Remigijus Žemaitaitis, who has broken his oath of office and has made antisemitic statements to the Seimas. The coalition of these political forces has a majority of 86 out of 141 seats.
Tensions over the post of Deputy Speaker of Seimas: Žemaitaitis threatened to leave the coalition
Before the first session of the new Seimas was over, disputes broke out within the coalition over the post of the last Deputy Speaker of the Seimas.
Before Christmas, Žemaitaitis stated that the political force he leads would consider withdrawing from the coalition if his candidacy for the position of Deputy Speaker was not submitted to the Seimas.
According to the coalition agreement, Nemuno Aušra has two vice-presidencies in the Seimas. Earlier, the coalition partners said that Žemaitaitis could only be nominated for the post of Deputy Speaker of the Seimas once his legal problems are resolved.
However, Žemaitaitis did not retreat from his position. They stressed that lifting his legal immunity no longer hindered his candidacy for the position of Deputy Speaker of the Seimas. He also reiterated that even before the signing of the coalition agreement, the leaders of the ruling majority had agreed that one of the Seimas leadership positions would go to him. Later, Skvernelis suggested that there was such an agreement.
Shortly afterwards, Žemaitaitis softened his stance and assured that there was no longer any question of a possible collapse of the coalition, as what was most important to him was Skvernelis' statement that there was a verbal agreement on his candidacy.
Amid the disputes over the post and the tensions in the coalition, one of Žemaitaitis' comrades, Širinskienė, decided to leave the party and its group in the Seimas, joining the Democratic Union Vardan Lietuvos.
She also says she will give up her position as Deputy Speaker of the Seimas, which belongs to the Nemuno Aušra quota when the spring session approaches. Therefore, Nemuno Aušra will have to put forward two candidates – Žemaitaitis has repeatedly said that he is not backing down from his plans to work in the Seimas leadership.