Politicians are questioning why the head of the Ministry of Culture stated in an interview that a technical break should be taken due to the controversial amendments to the broadcaster. However, parliament still voted in favour of the new draft amendments and their urgent adoption.
Opposition MPs are also interested in the minister's position on the model for forming the LRT Council and the audit carried out by the State Audit Office (SAO).
„In your opinion, is the model for forming the LRT Council appropriate? If not, what changes would you suggest? Does this model for forming the LRT Council ensure the principles of media freedom, self-regulation, and respectful distance from the government?“ – states the text of the opposition's questions.
„How do you assess the audit of LRT carried out by the State Audit Office, especially the part that refers to what the State Audit Office considers to be inappropriate content procurement? (...). What specific proposals will you make to the government, which is obliged to amend the resolution regulating LRT's public procurement?“ – the letter states.
In addition, Aleknavičienė politicians will ask whether the parliamentarian is familiar with the European Union (EU) Media Freedom Act and its provisions.
Among the questions is a request for the minister to evaluate the decision to freeze LRT funding for three years.
„Don't you think that the amendments to the LRT law implemented by the Seimas majority and the three-year budget freeze could result in a financial penalty for Lithuania? From which budget resources do you plan to cover the possible losses to the Lithuanian budget?“ the document states.
Opposition Seimas members indeed sought to summon the Social Democrat to the parliamentary tribune this week, but the issue was not included on the session's agenda.
No adoption of LRT amendments in the autumn session
On Friday, Seimas Chairman Juozas Olekas said that the autumn session is scheduled to end on Tuesday, so the issue of the controversial LRT law amendments will be postponed until January.
Initially, the decision on the aforementioned draft was to be made at an unscheduled parliamentary session on Thursday. However, due to Kęstutis Vilkauskas's poor health, the Chairman of the Culture Committee, the parliamentary board decided to cancel the session.
ELTA reminds us that the amendments to the LRT Law, which the Seimas considered on an urgent basis, were sharply criticised by the journalistic community. This week, protests were held outside the Seimas for three evenings in a row under the slogan „Hands off free speech.“
In an effort to delay what they consider flawed decisions, the opposition registered numerous amendments to the LRT Law. Many of them are comical and ironic.
An additional unscheduled Seimas session was convened to discuss amendments to the LRT Law, and the deliberations lasted several hours.
The initial draft initiated by the ruling party proposed that the appointment and dismissal of the LRT director general be decided by secret ballot. In addition, the director general of the public broadcaster could be dismissed from office if a vote of no confidence were passed due to improper performance of duties or if the Council did not approve the annual activity report. Such a decision would also have to be voted on by more than half of the Council members, i.e., at least 7 out of 12.
However, during the deliberations, the parliament approved the proposal of conservative Dalia Asanavičiūtė-Gružauskienė that the director general of LRT could be dismissed from office due to a vote of no confidence before the end of his term of office, only if the cat of Democrat Agnė Širinskienė, Nuodėgulis, expresses no confidence.
However, the ruling group has already registered a proposal to amend the draft and return to the original version.