Lithuanian lawmakers on Thursday started deliberating a proposal to task the National Audit Office to carry out an audit of the national broadcaster LRT by September 1.
Eighty MPs gave their initial backing to the motion, 15 voted against it, and 16 abstained. It will now go to parliamentary committees for further consideration and will return to the parliament on April 17.
According to the bill, the National Audit Office would audit the LRT’s activities for the period 2021–2024 in terms of economy, efficiency, and effectiveness.
The preamble of the document says that the audit is needed because the LRT’s funding from the state budget is growing quite significantly, with the public broadcaster’s budget expected to reach 79.6 million euros this year and further grow to 87.8 million euros in 2026 and 97.2 million euros in 2027.
In addition, it is necessary to assess “how the activities of this institution comply with the principles of transparency, efficiency, effectiveness, accountability, impartiality, political neutrality, and other principles”, the document reads.
The audit was proposed by Remigijus Žemaitaitis, leader of the Nemunas Dawn party, part of Lithuania’s ruling coalition.
MPs of the opposition Liberal Movement did not participate in the vote and said they would skip other votes on proposals put forward by Žemaitaitis.
“We’ve decided in our political group not to participate in any votes on draft laws tabled by Remigijus Žemaitaitis because we believe that this person, who has been found to have broken the constitution and his oath, should not have his proposals debated and should not take the rostrum,” Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, leader of the Liberal Movement, told journalists at the Seimas.
According to her, the National Audit Office should not be told what tasks to take on.
“We see this as politicisation and pressure, in this case telling the National Audit Office what audits to conduct. This political pressure, when it comes to the media, is unacceptable,” she said.
Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas has told BNS that he backs the audit. Meanwhile, opposition representatives say that the audit initiative amounts to political pressure on the public broadcaster.
Ex-Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė of the opposition conservative Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) questioned why the period 2021–2024. It was the period when the TS-LKD was in power.
“Was this period specifically inefficient, specifically not politically neutral?” she asked.
Meanwhile, Artūras Skardžius of the Nemunas Dawn party pointed out that the LRT plans to build a new building while the government is looking for additional funds for national defence.
For its part, the LRT has said it welcomes “all audits” and sees them as an opportunity to improve its performance.
The LRT says it has confidence in the professionalism of the auditors of the National Audit Office and believes that their insights would be useful for further activities.
Recently, the LRT Council has also initiated the so-called “political neutrality” audit of the public broadcaster, which has drawn criticism from media representatives in Lithuania and internationally.
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