„I cannot even theoretically imagine such a situation,“ Čmilytė-Nielsen told journalists at the Seimas on Thursday.
The former Speaker of the Seimas also suggests that it is difficult to imagine a scenario in which Remigijus Žemaitaitis Nemuno Aušra, which Remigijus Žemaitaitis leads, could be kicked out of the ruling ranks. The politician stresses that the Head of the Government, Gintautas Paluckas, considers the Chairman of the Nemuno Aušra as a very important partner.
„From all the statements we hear, we have the impression that Remigijus Žemaitaitis is a very comfortable and important partner for Prime Minister Paluckas. And perhaps even the main partner in the coalition. I do not know the reasons for this. One can only speculate“, said Čmilytė-Nielsen.
„That is why I am rather sceptical about the talk of changing the coalition. Remigijus Žemaitaitis has done everything in the last months and has certainly given more than one reason to be kicked out of the coalition. However, it seems very important for Prime Minister Paluckas“, she continued.
After President Gitanas Nausėda said that he sees alternatives to Žemaitaitis Nemuno Aušra in the coalition, Prime Minister Paluckas noted that he does not know of any business problems in the ruling majority.
At the same time, reacting to Nausėda's statements, the Speaker of the Seimas, Saulius Skvernelis, urged the Social Democrats to listen to the signals sent by the Presidency regarding the coalition's situation. Last week, during the party congress, he stated that entering an alliance with Nemuno Aušra was a mistake.
However, in January, Skvernelis had hinted that the party could also address the issue of staying in the coalition at its congress. However, the re-elected Chairman only called on the Vardan Lietuvos (In the Name of Lithuania) chapters of the Democrats to start discussing this issue.
After the resignation of the long-time leader of the Peasants Ramūnas Karbauskis, the public space began to discuss the possibility that the LVŽS could replace the party led by Žemaitaitis, who is always involved in scandals, in the coalition.
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 the Nemunas), led by Žemaitaitis, a member of the Seimas, who has broken his oath of office by making anti-Semitic statements, and the Union of Democrats (Vardan Lietuvos), which has a coalition with the Democrats. The alliance of these political forces has a majority of 86 out of 141 seats.
This decision has been strongly criticised both in Lithuania and abroad. For his part, President Gitanas Nausėda called the LSDP's decision to form a coalition with Nemuno Aušra a mistake. This was repeated by the Head of State last week.
Čmilytė-Nielsen: The Liberal Movement group decided not to participate in the votes on the projects submitted by Žemaitaitis
Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, Chair of the Liberal Movement, criticises the project of Remigijus Žemaitaitis, Nemuno Aušra member, on the audit of the LRT and believes that the group she leads has decided not to participate in the votes on the projects presented by Žemaitaitis.
„We have decided in the group that we will not participate in the votes on the projects submitted by Mr Žemaitaitis because we believe that this person has been found to have broken the Constitution and his oath. His proposals should not be discussed, and he should not go to the rostrum,“ Čmilytė-Nielsen told journalists at the Seimas.
Jurgis Razma, a member of the Conservatives, said that the TS-LKD group had no such prejudices.
„We are looking at the content, not the proposer,“ he told reporters.
The initiative to audit the LRT is politicised, he said
Both MPs called the initiative of Žemaitaitis on the audit of LRT politicised.
„In this case, the State Audit Office is being told what audits to undertake, while the State Audit Office has made it clear in the Audit Committee that they do not see the need to do so. Political pressure is not acceptable when it comes to the media“, said Ms Čmilytė-Nielsen.
Mr Razma echoed her by saying that more Conservatives do not favour such a project, even though the financial audit itself is not something special in principle. He feared that the intention behind it was to influence a change in the management of LRT.
The MEP stressed that it was rare for the State Audit Office to be entrusted with an audit by a Seimas resolution.
„When an audit of the content and impartiality of the Council's initiative is taking place alongside it, the impression is that a lot of pressure is being put on the national broadcaster. And indeed, these things are teetering on the brink of violating the impartiality of the national broadcaster against political influences. This is why we are cautious“, said Mr Razma.
ELTA reminds us that a proposal to initiate an audit of LRT's activities will be tabled in the Seimas on Thursday. Žemaitaitis intends to present this proposal to parliamentarians during the sitting.
If Žemaitaitis initiative is approved, the State Audit Office would have to carry out the audit by 1 September to assess the LRT's activities in 2021–2024 in terms of „economy, efficiency and effectiveness“.
In January, the draft resolution on the audit of the public broadcaster was signed by half of the Seimas – 71 MPs from the ruling groups, the Mixed Group of Seimas Members and the opposition group of the Lithuanian Peasants, Greens and the Union of Christian Families.
ELTA recalls that the audit of the LRT is one of the electoral ambitions of Nemuno Aušra. Žemaitaitis said that the Seimas Audit Committee would investigate the issue of LRT's funding at „cosmic speed“. However, in December, the State Audit Office was proposed to undertake this audit.
For its part, LRT stated in a position paper that the public broadcaster welcomes all audit initiatives and that if the Seimas asks the State Audit Office to conduct the audit, it will be seen as an opportunity to improve and make its operations more efficient.
This year's LRT budget is EUR 79.6 million and employs almost 700 staff.