Tamašunienė may oppose budget if referendum stalls

Justice Minister Rita Tamašunienė has not ruled out voting against next year’s state budget if Parliament makes no progress on an advisory referendum on the definition of family, LRT reported.

“I think so,” Tamašunienė said on Thursday when asked by the Žinių radijas radio station whether she could vote against the budget if the referendum proposal did not reach Parliament’s agenda. She said the Seimas Committee on Legal Affairs and Law Enforcement should consider the proposal and submit its findings, with Parliament making the final decision.

Tamašunienė said proposals were made to be debated, not left in a drawer, so the public could understand both politicians’ positions and the work of their elected representatives. Her party, the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania-Christian Families Alliance, and the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union share the same position on the issue, she said.

The minister said the referendum was not being raised as an ultimatum. She said her party was taking a firmer stance because the committee had not yet taken up the initiative. The Farmers and Greens Union leader, Aurelijus Veryga, said last week that his party’s support for next year’s budget depended on the referendum being considered by Parliament before the budget was adopted.

The initiative proposes holding the advisory referendum alongside next year’s municipal elections. Voters would be asked whether the Constitution should explicitly state that family legal relationships arise only from the marriage of a man and a woman, motherhood and fatherhood.

Tamašunienė said holding the referendum with the municipal elections would save public money. She estimated that a separate referendum would cost about five million euros, while one held alongside the elections would cost less than half as much. She said the vote would gauge public opinion on the definition of family, particularly following a Constitutional Court ruling that same-sex partnerships are family relationships. Even if the referendum did not take place, she said, politicians could assess the views of those who voted.

In late September, the Seimas Committee on State Governance and Municipalities backed holding the advisory referendum together with the 2027 municipal elections. The Constitution currently describes the family as the foundation of society and the state, and says that marriage is entered into by the free consent of a man and a woman. Municipal elections are scheduled for March 7 next year.