Lithuania’s parliament will postpone debate on a proposal to make it easier to dismiss the head of the national public broadcaster LRT after opposition lawmakers requested an expert review of the amendment, a senior lawmaker said Wednesday.
Kęstutis Vilkauskas, a Social Democrat who chairs the parliament’s Committee on Culture, told LRT RADIO the discussion would be pushed back.
“Yes, it will be postponed. I do not know for how long or when we will receive the expert review,” he said.
The committee on Wednesday plans to formally ask for a legal impact assessment of the proposed amendment to the LRT law. Opposition MPs from the conservative Homeland Union–Lithuanian Christian Democrats, the Liberal Movement and the Democrats “For Lithuania” filed their request Tuesday.
“Public broadcasting has a constitutional public-interest mission. The draft amendment seeks to fundamentally change the dismissal procedure for the LRT director general. Therefore, we, the 42 opposition MPs who signed the request, ask for an expert review and an opinion,” Conservative MP Dalia Asanavičiūtė-Gružauskienė said.
Opposition parties want experts to determine whether the proposal would undermine key principles of public broadcasting – including neutrality, independence and democratic safeguards – or violate rule-of-law standards. They also want to know whether the measure complies with the European Media Freedom Act.
The request cites a finding by the parliament’s Legal Department that the draft eliminates the requirement for the LRT Council to justify a no-confidence motion on public-interest grounds while offering no alternative objective criteria.
“These provisions are inconsistent with Constitutional Court doctrine. Therefore, we ask for a review of their constitutionality,” Asanavičiūtė-Gružauskienė said.
Vilkauskas said the parliament must seek the expert review from an academic institution and that the body will have 30 days to deliver its findings. Because of this step, the committee will not meet Friday as planned.
The committee had intended to examine on Friday an amendment introduced by Nemunas Dawn party leader Remigijus Žemaitaitis and supported by all ruling coalition parties. The proposal, approved in a first reading last week, would allow the LRT director general to be removed by secret ballot if six of the LRT Council’s 12 members back a no-confidence motion. Žemaitaitis has since said the threshold will likely need to rise to seven votes.
Under current rules, the director general can only be dismissed if the council cites public-interest grounds and at least eight of its 12 members support removal. The LRT Council has urged parliament to keep the existing threshold.
Parliament had planned to debate the amendment next week.
“The parliament instructed us to present the committee’s decision on December 11, which is why the meeting was being arranged so quickly,” Vilkauskas said.
Journalists have announced a protest outside parliament next Tuesday. Birutė Davidonytė, head of the Lithuanian Association of Professional Journalists, said the main demand is to scrap the proposal altogether.
“We call on the ruling bloc to reject these amendments and start a proper discussion with experts on what kind of public broadcaster we want, rather than tabling multiple competing drafts,” she told LRT RADIO.
LRT staff this week launched an on-air protest, observing moments of silence and urging politicians not to touch the public broadcaster. They have warned of growing political pressure and attempts to assert control over public service media.
The journalistic community says it plans further civic actions, including a letter-writing campaign to MPs.
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