Aidas Gedvilas elected chair of Lithuanian parliament’s energy and sustainable development committee

Lawmaker Aidas Gedvilas of the Nemuno Aušra (Dawn of Nemunas) faction has been elected chair of the Lithuanian parliament’s newly formed energy and sustainable development committee, state broadcaster LRT reports.

In Thursday’s vote, 66 MPs supported Gedvilas’ appointment, 17 opposed it, and two abstained. Algirdas Butkevičius of the Vardan Lietuvos (For Lithuania) Democrats faction was elected deputy chair.

The 13-member committee, representing multiple parliamentary groups, will oversee state energy policy, renewable and alternative energy priorities, and draft legislation on energy, transport, industry, agriculture, and waste management. It will also exercise parliamentary oversight of the Energy Ministry, the State Energy Regulatory Council (VERT), and the State Nuclear Safety Inspectorate.

Committee members will have access to information from the Energy and Finance Ministries on policy formation, state-owned energy companies’ strategic investments, and the use of public funds.

Gedvilas previously chaired the now-dissolved energy and sustainable development commission, which the Seimas (parliament) replaced with the new committee as its 17th standing body.