Čmilytė-Nielsen calls for LRT council depoliticisation

Liberal Movement leader Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen says the candidates considered by President Gitanas Nausėda for the council of Lithuania’s national broadcaster LRT show that the country should resume discussions on reducing political influence over the body, LRT reported.

“The president’s candidates confirm that we were right to seek to reduce politicians’ influence in forming the LRT council,” Čmilytė-Nielsen wrote on Facebook on Monday.

She said the council needed to be genuinely depoliticised, noting that one of Nausėda’s candidates had been an aide to a member of the Seimas, Lithuania’s parliament.

The president appointed lawyer Liudvika Meškauskaitė to the council. He had also considered lawyer Vytis Turonis, who is currently an adviser to Ligita Girskienė, a lawmaker from the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union, according to the report. Turonis took part in the 2024 parliamentary election with the party.

Čmilytė-Nielsen said both candidates had repeatedly expressed views in their public activities that contradicted Lithuania’s position on key issues, including the country’s foreign policy direction, assistance to Ukraine and sanctions against the regime of Alexander Lukashenko.

Meškauskaitė was appointed after Giedrius Jucevičius resigned. She specialises in media law, human rights, constitutional, civil and criminal law, and is an associate professor at Vilnius University and Mykolas Romeris University. She is also a public activist.

Established in 2004, she received the medal of the Order of the Grand Duke Gediminas of Lithuania.

The LRT council consists of 12 public, academic and cultural figures appointed for six-year terms. The president appoints four of its members.