LRT English Newsletter – February 10, 2023
Lithuanian winters are notoriously sombre, but this one underwhelmed even by that low standard. Meteorologists reported that January was the gloomiest on record, with Vilnius, for example, having enjoyed just five hours of sunshine. In an entire month.
Besides weather, we’ve been preoccupied with a drama in the parliament. Opposition MPs have called an extraordinary session to grill the Seimas speaker and the prosecutor general about whether or not they leaked information about a criminal investigation. It concerns a conservative MP, Kristijonas Bartoševičius, suspected of sexually abusing four minors. What raised their suspicions? Bartoševičius announced about giving up his seat – purportedly to avoid publicity – while on an official trip to Chile and just hours before prosecutors spilled the beans about the investigation.
The opposition wanted to set up a temporary commission to look into the matter but failed to garner enough votes.
SEARCH FOR MISSING TEENAGER
Another story that gripped the country this week centred around a missing teenager. The 15-year-old was last heard of on Saturday afternoon and was spotted walking along a river. Dozens of volunteers responded to his parents’ plea for help and were combing the banks of the Neris River in and around Vilnius every day this week. The boy’s jacket and phone have been recovered, but the search continues.
SOARING BANK PROFITS
As inflation is eating away at most people’s incomes, commercial banks are enjoying surging profits – so much so that even the Bank of Lithuania sees it as a problem. As interest rates on mortgages have risen – in Lithuania more than in any other eurozone country – while those on deposits remain low, the banking sector is looking to triple its usual profit margins this year, to one billion euros.
The finance minister has suggested that these windfall profits might have to be taxed away – and used for national defence. The idea has been welcomed in the president’s office.
FREE MILK
Lithuania’s dairy farmers organised a protest this week, saying the low rates they are paid by processors and big retailers are driving them to bankruptcy. They are unconvinced by the latter saying that prices are low on international markets, which is why they cannot pay more. The farmers erected crosses outside processing plants and supermarket chain headquarters – and were giving away milk to anyone who wanted or just demonstrably pouring it out.
DRAMAS OFF STAGE
The National Drama Theatre announced this week it was firing its chief playwright, the well-known author Marius Ivaškevičius. This looks like Act II of a drama that began when the theatre’s chief, Martynas Budraitis, sacked its artistic director Oskaras Koršunovas last December. Budraitis quoted the latter’s absenteeism, while Koršunovas claimed it was a back-stabbing powerplay. Now, Ivaškevičius insists that if he has to go, so should Budraitis.
Alongside the Drama Theatre drama, we’ve been following action at the national opera house (LNOBT). The Culture Ministry recently decided – following a formal selection procedure – not to reappoint its current director, Jonas Sakalauskas, and give the position instead to Laima Vilimienė, who now heads a theatre in Klaipėda. This provoked a revolt from the LNOBT staff who organised protest actions, saying they want Sakalauskas to stay. Moreover, they pointed out, Vilimienė was part of the team of the opera house’s former director Gintaras Kėvišas who was sacked amid a conflict of interests scandal. Sakalauskas has said he will appeal the decision.
ANOTHER DEPORTATION
A migrant rights group, Sienos Grupė, organised a protest this week at Vilnius Airport, saying the authorities were planning to deport seven asylum seekers to Nigeria. According to the group, the migrants were not given enough time to appeal the Migration Department’s decisions – and were being sent to a country where they would face persecution. The group later said the flight was cancelled.
Back in mid-December, Lithuania deported the first group of migrants to Nigeria. The authorities insisted everything was done by the book.
EDITOR’S PICKS
– A German MP from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) may have used a visit to Lithuania as a cover to make a further trip to Belarus. A joint investigation by LRT Investigation Team and Germany’s investigative journalism centre Correctiv.
– Either for lack of job opportunities or to learn new skills, Lithuanians are rediscovering vocational schools. Many applicants already have university degrees or decades-long careers behind them.
– There are around 203,000 more women than men in Lithuania. Despite all efforts, male mortality remains extremely high, while women are facing poorer and lonelier life in their old age.
– Several tennis players from Russia and Belarus are competing in a tournament in Vilnius, even as Lithuania is campaigning to have Russian and Belarusian athletes barred from the 2024 Olympic Games.
– Entrepreneurs believe Lithuania is losing millions in investment because of bad flight connections. The government has chosen to solve the problem with subsidies to private carriers, although setting up a national airline – like airBaltic in Latvia – is ever on the table.
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