Social Democrats leader sees no need to revisit Landsbergis’ head of state status

The acting leader of Lithuania’s Social Democratic Party (LSDP) has dismissed calls to reopen debate over the head of state status granted to Vytautas Landsbergis, the late speaker of the Supreme Council-Reconstituent Seim, LRT reports.

Mindaugas Sinkevičius told reporters at the Seimas on Wednesday that his party’s parliamentary group had no involvement in the issue. “As far as I know, the Social Democratic faction has nothing to do with this. It is an individual initiative by a Seimas member, and I see no reason to return to it or reopen the topic,” he said. “This question hasn’t even been discussed.”

The proposal to revoke Landsbergis’ status was registered by Rimas Jonas Jankūnas, a member of the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union and Christian Families Alliance faction. In 2022, the then-ruling conservatives granted Landsbergis—who led Lithuania’s independence movement—the symbolic recognition, arguing it corrected a historical injustice. Opponents, including Jankūnas, have since claimed the law violates the constitution and amounts to an attempt to “distort” historical facts.

Jankūnas’ draft law to annul the 2022 decision has not yet reached a parliamentary vote.