Disputes in culture committee as opposition considers ethics complaint

The opposition in Lithuania’s parliament has accused the chair of the Seimo Culture Committee of unfairly holding a remote session on amendments to public broadcaster LRT’s law, threatening to escalate the dispute to the Ethics and Procedures Commission, LRT reports.

During Wednesday’s meeting, conservative MPs Vytautas Juozapaitis and Vytautas Kernagis criticised chair Kęstutis Vilkauskas for scheduling a remote session despite available meeting rooms. Juozapaitis claimed the committee’s usual space in the Seimas building was unoccupied and called for an in-person debate, warning the session could be deemed invalid.

“The chair justified the remote format by saying there were no rooms. I won’t call him a liar—perhaps he was misinformed—but we are currently in Room 218B, and I invite everyone to return here and continue the meeting as the Seimas statute requires,” Juozapaitis said. He added that the opposition had already approached the Ethics Commission last Friday over procedural concerns but had not yet received a response.

Vilkauskas defended the decision, stating that the committee’s standard meeting room was booked for another event after 1 PM. He also noted that only MPs’ proposals—not those from associations or citizens—would be reviewed in the session.

Meanwhile, Birutė Davidonytė, head of the Journalists’ Professional Association, claimed on Facebook that she was barred from joining the committee’s meeting. “The Culture Committee just removed me from the open session, where I, as the association’s chair, have the right to participate,” she wrote, alleging that MPs’ microphones were muted to prevent debate.

Vilkauskas later clarified that public submissions would be addressed in a future session, with Wednesday’s agenda limited to parliamentary proposals.