Council Chairman Mindaugas Jurkynas says that Garbačiauskaitė-Budrienė's public statements criticising the majority of the council raise doubts about her attitude toward the rule of law.
Therefore, according to him, it is essential to understand how she sees the future work of LRT and cooperation with the council in such circumstances.
The LRT Law stipulates that the council is the highest collegial body responsible for LRT management and supervisory functions, and for representing the interests of the public. The council also performs the functions of the general meeting of shareholders of LRT as a public institution.
Public statements undermine the work of the council
The LRT Council pointed out that its members' visit to the Seimas, which Garbačiauskaitė-Budrienė criticised, is standard practice. According to her, council representatives usually attend such meetings at the invitation of the Seimas leadership or committees.
„Most importantly, as far as the council is aware, there were no secret meetings – all meetings are discussed with the council, whose meetings are also attended by the LRT director general herself. By comparison, the director does not report her meetings with politicians to the council. Therefore, the Director General's statements about alleged „secret“ meetings of council members in the Seimas could be considered manipulation or a mistake,“ the LRT Council said in a statement.
It also noted that such public criticism of the LRT Council by the director general could be understood as an attempt to undermine the council's importance and encourage it to ignore the Seimas.
„The council has no basis for this and does not plan to take such action. On the contrary, the work in the Seimas has been vital recently, as LRT funding issues are being decided, the State Audit Office's audit of LRT is being discussed, and initiatives to amend the LRT law are being considered,“ the council emphasised.
Last week, Garbačiauskaitė-Budrienė stated that she sees how the public broadcaster is being taken over. According to her, not only the ruling party but also the majority of the LRT Council members are involved in this process.
ELTA reminds us that recently, some members of parliament have raised several questions about LRT and initiated amendments to the law.
One of them is a proposal to simplify the procedure for dismissing the LRT director general. Representatives of the Nemuno Aušra and Lithuanian Peasant, Green and Christian Families Union factions proposed that the public broadcaster's council be able to dismiss the LRT director general by secret ballot, with at least half of all council members voting in favour.
The proposal passed the first vote in the Seimas on Thursday, with the amendments to the law receiving the support of parliamentarians after their submission.
In addition, on Thursday, the Seimas also approved the proposal by the Nemuno Aušra and Lithuanian Peasants and Greens Union factions to freeze the current funding allocated to LRT. Under this initiative, approximately EUR 80 million will be allocated to the public broadcaster's activities over the next three years.
The amendments to the law initiated by the ruling parties have been met with public criticism. The country's journalists have approached parliamentarians, expressing concern that the actions of Seimas members resemble an attempt to take control of the public broadcaster.
Meanwhile, the Council of Europe's Platform for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists expressed concern about the situation at LRT on Wednesday. According to the platform, several initiatives currently underway in Lithuania pose a threat to LRT's independence and effective operation. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has already expressed concern about these amendments.