The upcoming autumn session of the Lithuanian parliament, Seimas, is the last chance to pass a civil union bill, says Aušrinė Armonaitė, chairwoman of the Freedom Party that has initiated the bill aimed at giving recognition to same-sex couples.
“We believe that this session is the last session this bill can be adopted,” she told reporters on Thursday, after a meeting of the ruling coalition’s council. “And it is, of course, not the Freedom Party that needs it, but the people of Lithuania. That is why we all have to do our part, both the coalition parties and the parties that are committed to their voters, to ensure that the bill is passed and that it is passed in this session.”
Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, the speaker of the Seimas and the leader of the ruling Liberal Movement, insisted that the issue will be on the agenda of the autumn session, but admitted that there is still no strong support for civil unions among MPs.
“Personally, I would very much like to see this issue finally closed during the current parliament’s tenure and have the expectations of the people who care about it fulfilled,” she said. “Whether it will be possible to get the number of votes needed is still an open question.”
“It would be a 50-50 vote on civil union,” she added.
In May, the civil union bill aimed at legally regulating relations between same-sex partners passed its second reading in the parliament by a narrow margin. Sixty members of the Seimas voted in favour, 52 against and three abstained. The bill will need a final vote in the parliament to be adopted.
Currently, Lithuanian laws do not recognise civil partnerships either between same-sex or opposite-sex partners. Several previous attempts to legislate civil partnership fell through at an early stage of the parliamentary process.
Speaking about plans to ratify the Istanbul Convention during the autumn session, Speaker Čmilytė-Nielsen said that the issue will depend on whether the parliament will dare ask for the Constitutional Court’s opinion on whether it is in line with the country’s fundamental law.
“Apparently, we will come back to discussing the resolution at the beginning of the autumn session. It is now up to the Seimas to decide whether to refer the Convention to the Constitutional Court, so that the latter could assess if it may be contrary to the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania,” the speaker said.
Parliament began discussing the proposal, initiated by Čmilytė-Nielsen, at the end of the spring session, after NGOs had called for a referral to the Constitutional Court.
Lithuania signed the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence back on June 7, 2013, but the parliament has not yet ratified it.
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