„Given that the urgency and arguments of the initiators clearly show that the aim is to enable the LRT Council to dismiss the current Director General of LRT before the end of her term, regardless of the public interest, but solely because of their undisguised dissatisfaction with the fact that the public broadcaster is allegedly overly critical of the ruling political forces, I propose not to delay and to spell this out clearly in the law,“ Šimonytė presented her argument.
She deleted the part of the draft stating that the Director General of LRT may be dismissed from office before the end of his term of office due to a lack of confidence in him, only if he fails to perform the functions of Director General of LRT properly, and added her own version:
„The Director General of LRT may be dismissed from office before the end of his term of office on grounds of no confidence only if he fails to ensure that presenters maintain a positive facial expression and/or a C-major tone when questioning politicians belonging to the ruling coalition parties.“
The ruling coalition's rush to push through the LRT amendments sparked enormous discontent among the opposition. Responding to Social Democrat Remigijus Motuzas' statement that the rush was necessary so that the initial draft registered by Nemuno aušra would not have to be considered, the conservative politician did not hide her anger on Facebook.
„I just can't find the words to describe this. Nonsense? Pezalai? If you agreed to a nonsensical draft a week ago and can't figure out how to amend it, then reject it. Simple. But no. Let's tell everyone that if we hadn't proposed to kill it ourselves, we would have had to vote for the idea of quartering.
I expect nothing from those faceless, hard-working silicate brick office workers who make up the majority of the current faction. I expected something from experienced politicians. But now it's clear what to expect. Cynicism,“ wrote Šimonytė.
On Thursday, the Seimas approved the ruling party's bill, registered on Wednesday, to simplify the procedure for dismissing the head of LRT.
There was no shortage of chaos in the parliament chamber. Although the opposition requested an expert assessment of the law's impact, Raimondas Šukys, who chaired the session, first put to a vote a proposal by former culture minister Šarūnas Birutis to consider the law a matter of urgency.
The opposition then left the plenary session hall and insisted they would not return until the expert assessment had been commissioned. The boycott continued on Friday. Some Conservatives and Liberals are not participating in Seimas committee meetings.
It is proposed that the appointment and dismissal of the LRT director general be subject to a secret ballot.
The draft law provides that the director general of the public broadcaster may be dismissed from office if a vote of no confidence is passed due to improper performance of duties or if the council does not approve the annual activity report.
In addition, more than half of the council members, i.e., at least seven out of 12, would have to vote in favour of this decision.
The journalistic community and the opposition, who are critical of the draft, argue that the draft proposed by the ruling party differs little from the initiative previously put forward by Nemuno Aušra and the joint Peasants' faction.
It proposed that the public broadcaster's council could dismiss the head of LRT by secret ballot, with at least half of all council members voting in favour, without having to justify the decision on grounds of public interest.
In response to the proposed amendments, the journalistic community organised a protest outside the Seimas and continues to call for signatures on a petition against the political takeover of LRT.