Democrats leader suggests Targamadzė’s expertise could be used beyond Education Committee

The acting leader of Lithuania’s Democrats party, Virginijus Sinkevičius, has proposed that MP Vilija Targamadzė—who sought a seat on the Seimas Education and Science Committee—could instead contribute her expertise to the Future Committee or within the party’s internal education policy work, LRT reports.

Targamadzė, a professor and member of the Democrats’ “For Lithuania” faction, has accused the party of breaking its promise to secure her a place on the Education Committee, even suggesting she might leave the faction. Sinkevičius acknowledged that the party had initially considered her for the committee but lost one of its two allocated seats after two members left the faction.

“We were prepared to offer her the Education Committee when we had two quotas, but after two members departed, only one remained,” Sinkevičius told BNS. He added that securing an additional seat would require “goodwill” from the ruling Social Democrats, who currently hold the power to allocate extra spots. “It wouldn’t be extraordinary, but they’d need to take that step.”

The Democrats currently have an open seat on the Health Committee, which Sinkevičius said could potentially be swapped for a position on the Future Committee—a body that frequently addresses education issues. He stressed that no MP is barred from actively engaging with a committee’s work even without formal membership.

Sinkevičius criticised Targamadzė’s public statements as counterproductive, arguing they complicate negotiations with the Social Democrats. “It’s hard for us to discuss this with them when our own member openly declares she’ll leave the faction if she doesn’t get the Education Committee seat,” he said. He also dismissed the idea of removing current Democrat member Agnė Jakavičiutė-Miliauskienė from the committee after nearly two years of service, calling it “deeply unfair.”

European Parliament member Sinkevičius, now acting as the party’s interim leader, urged resolving the dispute through compromise rather than ultimatums. “In politics, ultimatums are dangerous—they rarely end as expected,” he cautioned.