According to him, the head of parliament was inclined to support his political opponents' proposal, but other ruling coalition representatives rejected it.
„All of this could have been avoided. The speaker of the Seimas (...) invited us, representatives of the opposition factions, yesterday and proposed solutions on how to get out of this situation, without such a long session,“ Skvernelis told reporters in the Seimas on Wednesday.
„The speaker of the Seimas agreed to this de-escalation option, but then there were talks with coalition partners and other decisions were made,“ the politician said.
The Democratic leader claims that the opposition proposed that the Seimas Board form a working group which, after discussions with the journalistic community, would suggest a solution to the problem, and that the amendments to the law would return to the parliamentary agenda during the autumn session.
„We proposed a solution that the law would not be passed this year, but would be done in an extraordinary session, if desired, next year. A working group would be formed by decision of the Seimas Board to discuss the solution to the problem in the broader media field. Then we would have suggested to our colleagues to withdraw all the amendments, and yesterday's debate would have been over,“ said the politician.
„Yesterday, we suggested to the speaker of the Seimas to come to his senses – a straightforward option that would definitely lead to de-escalation, and there would probably be no protests, nothing. But that is probably not the goal – it was rejected, and that was that,“ he added.
On Wednesday, parliamentarians will gather again in the Seimas chamber to continue an unscheduled session to discuss the controversial amendments to the Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT) law that have sparked protests.
The amendments proposed by the ruling party aim to simplify the procedure for dismissing the director general of the public broadcaster.
The decision to hold an unscheduled session was made on Tuesday evening, after parliamentarians spent more than seven hours discussing the amendments to the public broadcaster. The process was prolonged because the opposition, in response to the ruling party's initiative, registered more than 150 proposals, many of which were comical. Parliamentarians explain that they are seeking to delay the adoption of amendments they consider flawed.
Members of Parliament intend to adopt the final amendments to the law on Thursday.
Of the more than 150 proposals registered by the opposition, Parliament rejected over 60. However, one proposal was approved – Conservative Dalia Asanavičiūtė-Gružauskienė proposed that the director general of LRT could be dismissed from office before the end of his term only if the cat of Democrat Agnė Širinskienė, Nuodėgulis, expressed distrust in him.
On Tuesday, during deliberations on these amendments, the journalistic community organised protests outside the Seimas. Bonfires were lit in Independence Square outside the Seimas, and several thousand people gathered to express their opposition to the amendments proposed by the ruling party. The protest is planned to continue on Wednesday and Thursday.
The amendments, initiated by the ruling party and being debated as a matter of urgency, provide for a secret ballot when appointing and dismissing the director general of LRT. In addition, if the amendments are approved, the director general of the public broadcaster could 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. Such a decision would also require a vote by more than half of the Council members, i.e., at least 7 out of 12.