Lithuanian parliament set to approve LRT law next week with no major changes

The long-debated amendments to Lithuania’s public broadcaster LRT law should be adopted next week without significant further revisions, Seimas Speaker Juozas Olekas told LRT Radio on Monday.

“I believe that when we vote on adoption next week, there will be no additional amendments—particularly regarding the agreements between the government and LRT,” said Olekas, a Social Democrat. “Every MP is free to decide, but I doubt individual changes would gain much support. We have a consolidated draft that we aim to pass.”

The proposed changes, which the Seimas preliminarily approved last week, would overhaul LRT’s governance by replacing its current supervisory council with a five-member board and expanding its advisory council from 12 to 15 members. Board terms would shrink from six to four years, and a new council bureau would be established.

Olekas argued the reforms would improve financial oversight and operational efficiency at the national broadcaster. “These decisions will ensure far greater transparency and more effective use of public funds,” he said.

Under the draft, LRT’s director-general could be dismissed by a two-thirds majority of the council—either for failing to meet “impeccable reputation” standards or for gross misconduct. The council would also decide whether such votes are held openly or in secret; currently, appointments and dismissals are public.

Critics, including Seimas Vice Speaker Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen (Liberal Movement), have questioned the need for the overhaul. “The problematic provisions left in the text concern trivial legal technicalities—like the law’s effective date and how tenure is counted—that shouldn’t be here at all,” she said, calling the process “frustrating.”

The bill also caps the director-general’s tenure at two consecutive terms, with the current term retroactively counted as the first. Previous state institution leaders saw their tenures reset upon reappointment. Opposition lawmakers had proposed delaying the law’s implementation to avoid applying new rules to the incumbent director, but the ruling majority rejected that change.

Editorial policy guidelines would be set by the heads of LRT’s radio, television, and online news divisions. The draft, shaped by over 200 proposals from MPs, civic groups, and state bodies, has faced protests from journalists and civil society over concerns about political influence.

The Seimas Culture Committee significantly revised the original working-group version before sending it to the full chamber.