Farmers threaten coalition over stalled family referendum

LRT reports that Lithuania’s Farmers parliamentary group has warned it could withhold support for the state budget or leave the governing majority unless parliament resumes consideration of a proposed advisory referendum on the definition of family.

The referendum would ask voters whether the Constitution should state that legal family relationships arise only from a marriage between a man and a woman. The Farmers want the vote to be held alongside municipal elections.

The draft resolution was approved in April, but further consideration has stalled in parliamentary committees. Farmers leader Aurelijus Veryga said the issue could become decisive for the group’s continued work in the coalition.

President Gitanas Nausėda has urged parliament to call the referendum and said he would support the proposed wording. The Constitution currently says marriage is entered into by the free agreement of a man and a woman. However, the Constitutional Court has ruled that families can also be formed by unmarried couples and include same-sex couples.

Social Democrat Orinta Leiputė said a family could include a single mother or father, and argued that limiting the definition to a married man and woman with children would be unfair to others. Liberal leader Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen and other politicians said the referendum could be intended to mobilise voters ahead of municipal elections.

Vytautas Mitalas of the Freedom Party said an advisory referendum would not change the Constitution. He also argued that changing the wording would not change the substance of what constitutes a family.

The report also featured newlyweds Lukas and Julija, who described marriage as an expression of love, commitment and responsibility for their family. Lithuania has not previously held a referendum alongside municipal elections.