The Lithuanian parliament overrode a presidential veto on its decision to add two road maintenance and construction companies, Problematika and Kelių Priežiūra (Road Maintenance), to the list of strategic enterprises.
This is the second time that the Seimas has rejected President Gitanas Nausėda's veto.
The latest veto was overturned on Thursday in a vote of 81 to 26 with six abstentions.
Members of parliament say the two companies need the status strategic enterprises so that they are not privatised.
“What's most important is to protect these companies from privatisation,” said Valius Ąžuolas, the chairman of the parliament's Committee on Budget and Finance.
The Seimas Committee on Economics had recommended upholding the presidential veto.
Rimantas Sinkevičius, the committee's chairman, said the prime minister had assured him that the government would halt the privatisation of Problematika.
The Seimas added the two companies to the list of Category II enterprises of importance to ensuring national security on October 17.
Nausėda vetoed the decision, saying that Problematika's operations have no strategic importance to national security and that the parliament failed to provid clear arguments regarding Kelių Priežiūra.
In August, the Seimas rejected Nausėda's veto on a bill capping how much forest land can be owned by a single owner.
