„This issue will not be included in the spring session, as so many important issues exist. For example, implementing the measures in the Government Programme, tax reform, the second pillar of pensions, etc. On the other hand, we have spoken and discussed with the party that we will resolve this issue during our term of office. Perhaps after the spring session, we will discuss when would be the right time to discuss this“, Motuzas told Elta.
The politician also wonders why the Conservatives presented this initiative immediately after the election of former Minister of National Defence Laurynas Kasčiūnas as the chairperson of the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats.
„It was registered only after Kasčiūnas was elected. Moreover, it was registered by the liberal part of the Conservative Party, and we only see the signatures of their representatives, not the position of the entire Conservative Party,“ Motuzas said.
For his part, Skvernelis, Head of the Democratic Union Vardan Lietuvos (In the Name of Lithuania), Speaker of Seimas, said on Tuesday that the bill has little chance of gaining the support of the majority.
„It depends on what the bill is. If it is the same as what was tried to be inserted in the last legislature, I don't see that it will have any prospects,“ the politician told reporters in the Seimas.
On Tuesday, several Conservatives in the Seimas proposed including a draft law on civil union in the programme of work for the spring session of the Seimas, which starts on 10 March.
According to the parliamentarians, civil union is relevant for all couples, not just same-sex couples, and its adoption would resolve a long-delayed critical human rights issue.
Although some members of the new centre-left coalition agree that a law should be adopted to protect the rights of people living together, the Civil Union or Partnership Bill was not included in the Government Programme.
Although the law was not implemented in the last Seimas, the issue went through a couple of stages, with only one vote left to pass it.
The Civil Union Law proposes to regulate property and personal non-property relations between persons who are not married but have a typical relationship.