Lawmakers question holidays for themselves and president

Lawmakers say regulating holidays for members of parliament and the president is not a priority and could create practical difficulties, LRT reported, citing BNS. Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius has said legislators should initiate any necessary legal changes themselves.

The debate returned to public attention after the presidential office announced that President Gitanas Nausėda would work remotely from Madeira from August 3 to 10.

Sinkevičius said this week that he did not plan to propose amendments concerning holidays for members of parliament or the president.

“If lawmakers decide that regulation is needed, they will take that initiative,” he told reporters.

The Presidential Law does not provide for holidays for the head of state, while the Seimas statute does not establish holidays for members of parliament. Under the Government Law, however, Cabinet members are entitled to a minimum of 20 working days of annual leave.

Violeta Turauskaitė, deputy head of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party faction in the Seimas and a member of the State Governance and Municipalities Committee, said she planned to discuss the issue. She told BNS this week that she had not yet discussed regulation of holidays for lawmakers and the president with her faction colleagues.

She said the established practice of having no official holidays was complex because the work of the Seimas is defined by the Constitution, including when it formally meets. She also questioned whether holidays could be established only during the period between parliamentary sessions.

Asked whether the Constitution should be reviewed to regulate presidential holidays, Turauskaitė said the issue was not currently a key topic for politicians.

“Probably everyone has the right to find a lighter period when they can combine their main work responsibilities with an opportunity to rest somewhat,” she said, adding that she viewed the president’s remote work positively.

Domas Griškevičius, a member of the Democratic faction For Lithuania and the Seimas first deputy speaker, said he planned to consult factions soon about their views on establishing holidays for lawmakers.

“There have been attempts in the past, but they ended unsuccessfully,” he told BNS. He said the first step should be to determine how the factions viewed the possibility and then examine how the issue is regulated in European Union countries.

According to Griškevičius, members of the European Parliament have holidays, while lawmakers in Western European parliaments generally do not officially take leave.

He said any regulation would raise technical questions, including how many days of leave should be granted and what would happen if a lawmaker were on holiday when an extraordinary sitting was called.

Griškevičius also questioned whether unused leave could accumulate during the limited terms of office, which last four years for a member of parliament and five years for the president, potentially leading to payments for unused holidays after a politician’s term ended.

He said the different arrangements for ministers and lawmakers reflected the distinct nature of the institutions. Ministers can be appointed from outside the Seimas, he noted, and many current ministers are not members of parliament.