Lithuania’s proposed overhaul of the national broadcaster’s governance and funding rules should be improved, the Venice Commission said Wednesday, softening earlier criticism but still warning that parts of the draft law risk undermining media independence.
In a follow-up opinion published Wednesday, the Council of Europe’s advisory body on constitutional matters said the draft amendments to the law governing Lithuanian National Radio and Television, LRT, “should be improved”.
The wording was milder than in an earlier draft opinion reported by BNS, which said the legislation “should not be adopted in its current form”.
The commission reviewed the version of the bill that passed its initial reading in the Seimas before lawmakers amended it in the parliamentary Committee on Culture.
The Venice Commission said the authors of the amendments had failed to carry out a proper assessment of the public broadcaster’s funding model and noted that LRT’s budget growth remained frozen without a comprehensive analysis of how this would affect the broadcaster’s operations.
At the same time, the commission welcomed a provision restoring the requirement that two-thirds of the LRT Council vote in favour of dismissing the broadcaster’s director-general.
However, it recommended that any revised dismissal rules apply only to directors-general appointed after the amendments take effect in order to avoid what it described as “ad personam” legislation targeting a specific individual.
LRT director-general Monika Garbačiauskaitė-Budrienė has previously argued that the amendments were designed specifically to remove her from office.
The commission also said additional safeguards were needed to ensure the independence of council members and called for clear and objective criteria governing the dismissal of the LRT director-general. Such dismissals, it said, should be limited to exceptional circumstances and remain subject to effective judicial review.
The body questioned whether the draft law complies with the European Convention on Human Rights and European standards on public media independence and financing.
It also criticised the legislative process itself, saying the handling of the amendments “does not meet good legislative standards”.
According to the commission, last year’s freeze on LRT funding, combined with the proposed reforms, amounted to significant interference with the state’s obligation to guarantee media pluralism and independence.
The opinion also criticised proposals to tie LRT funding to public service contracts, although the Culture Committee had already rejected those ideas earlier.
The commission recommended a full impact assessment of the amendments and broader consultations with LRT and other stakeholders.
It further urged lawmakers to ensure that any restrictions on the participation of other media organisations in LRT broadcasts or content production be limited to exceptional cases based on clear and objective criteria.
The Seimas Committee on Culture concluded discussions on the amendments Wednesday after holding 10 meetings on the issue, though a final vote on the committee’s conclusions was postponed until its next session.
Committee Chairman Kęstutis Vilkauskas said comments to the Venice Commission had been submitted by Seimas Speaker Juozas Olekas, who led the working group behind the amendments, but committee members themselves had not seen the responses.
The committee has substantially revised the original proposals prepared by the working group.
Lawmakers agreed Wednesday that LRT’s editorial policy guidelines should be approved by the heads of radio and television news as well as the editor-in-chief of the broadcaster’s news portal.
By majority vote from the ruling coalition, the committee also decided not to delay the entry into force of the amendments, meaning the current LRT director-general could still be dismissed under the new rules.
Opposition lawmakers had proposed postponing the new dismissal procedure until 2028, but the idea failed to gain support.
The committee approved a revised definition of LRT’s mission, backed the creation of a new management board and supported increasing the number of LRT Council members from 12 to 15.
It rejected a proposal to allow Lithuania’s Tripartite Council to appoint a representative to the council and instead proposed granting that right to the National NGO Coalition.
Lawmakers also agreed to shorten council members’ terms from six years to four and introduce specific competency and reputation requirements for candidates.
The committee additionally backed the creation of an LRT Council office.
By consensus, lawmakers rejected a proposal to limit the participation of other media representatives in creating LRT content. Committee members argued that the current provision is technical in nature and intended only to prevent other broadcasters from using frequencies allocated to the national broadcaster.
The proposed LRT reforms have sparked protests from some journalists and members of the public.
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