Lithuania’s political season faces budget and election tensions

Lithuania’s new political season has begun without the Nemunas Dawn party in the governing coalition, but the budget and approaching municipal elections are likely to keep political tensions high, LRT reported.

The new parliamentary season began after law enforcement searched the homes of five Nemunas Dawn board members. The investigation concerns the rental of party members’ cars to the political organisation.

“They took a couple of phones, a personal computer and a work computer. I had nothing else, and I have nothing to hide,” Nemunas Dawn parliamentary group member Kęstutis Bilius said.

Party leader Remigijus Žemaitaitis called the investigation a political circus and said the fight was only beginning.

Law enforcement also searched the home of Seimas Deputy Speaker Daiva Žebelienė, a member of the Nemunas Dawn parliamentary group. She said that a procedural action did not mean a crime had been committed.

“This is not an accusation of guilt and certainly does not provide grounds to claim publicly that some crime has supposedly been committed,” Žebelienė said.

The speaker of the Seimas also declined to rush to assess her responsibility. He said the situation was unpleasant and cast a shadow over the entire parliament, but added that being stopped by police and asked to take a breathalyser test did not mean a person was drunk.

Coalition partners expect fewer dramas

With Nemunas Dawn leaving the governing coalition, its former partners expect a calmer political season.

“I will have to comment less on what Žemaitaitis has said,” Social Democrat parliamentary group member Algirdas Sysas said.

Virginijus Sinkevičius, leader of the Union of Democrats For Lithuania, said the number of political dramas had fallen. Conservative opposition representative Gintarė Skaistė also said the season could be calmer because Nemunas Dawn was no longer in the coalition.

However, Liberal Movement parliamentary group leader Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen took the opposite view. She said politicians faced a difficult budget process and that preparations for the municipal elections had already begun.

“I think the season will be tense because the budget is ahead, and the budgetary autumn is never easy. It is also an election season – the municipal election campaign is beginning,” Čmilytė-Nielsen said.

Sysas said politicians needed to show voters that they were not simply sitting around without purpose.

Government seeks common ground with conservatives

Before the autumn session of the Seimas, Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius met with opposition conservative leader Laurynas Kasčiūnas. The two politicians said they had agreed on two key priorities: air defence and family policy.

“We are not moving away from two components – family and support for society, and defence. I think these are two fundamental directions,” the prime minister said.

Kasčiūnas said the government and opposition needed to seek common solutions in some areas, but that political and ideological competition would remain.

“There are areas where we need to agree. I think that in family policy, and first of all on defence and security, we need the broadest possible agreement. But there are areas where ideological and values-based competition is taking place,” the conservative leader said.

This would not be the first instance of cooperation between the Social Democrats and conservatives. In 2006, the conservatives supported a minority Social Democratic government.

Andrius Kubilius, the European Commission member responsible for defence and space, said the parties needed a real agreement on major tasks rather than a symbolic one, adding that responsibility lay with both party leaders and the parties themselves.

Čmilytė-Nielsen said she wanted to see how the statements about cooperation would translate into concrete votes.