Lawmakers ask Lithuania’s Constitutional Court to expedite LRT law case

A group of Lithuanian lawmakers has asked the Constitutional Court to expedite its review of amendments to the law governing the national public broadcaster LRT, LRT reported.

The lawmakers said the request was prompted by the possibility that decisions on LRT’s director general could be made soon.

“The LRT Council will consider on Tuesday issues related to an alleged serious breach by the current director. If the director is dismissed and the Constitutional Court later rules that the legal acts used as the basis for the dismissal contradict the Constitution, this would cause irreparable legal and reputational consequences,” lawmaker Giedrė Balčytytė said in a statement.

The lawmakers also said the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission had strongly criticised the changes to LRT’s management. According to them, the international legal experts stressed that the new rules for dismissing the public broadcaster’s director should apply only to directors appointed after the rules entered into force.

Otherwise, they said, the legislation could appear to have been designed to target a specific person.

“The official constitutional doctrine clearly states that LRT must remain independent of private, political and other interests. Real, rather than merely formal, safeguards must be ensured for this purpose,” Balčytytė said.

She added that the amendments, particularly those concerning the procedure for dismissing the director, raised serious doubts about LRT’s resilience to political pressure.

Lawmakers question impact on LRT independence

In late June, 37 lawmakers from the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats, Liberal Movement and Democrats For Lithuania parliamentary groups asked the Constitutional Court to assess whether the LRT amendments comply with the Constitution.

According to the lawmakers, the new regulation, adopted on June 2, does not ensure LRT’s independence from political influence, creates an opaque mechanism for dismissing its director and may violate the rule-of-law principle.

They asked the court to assess whether the provisions comply with Article 25 of the Constitution, which covers the right to freely express convictions and receive and disseminate information; Article 44, which prohibits censorship of mass media; Article 5, which limits the powers of government; and the constitutional rule-of-law principle.

The amendments were prepared after governing-party representatives in parliament sought last December to swiftly adopt other changes simplifying the procedure for dismissing LRT’s director general.

The initial draft proposed secret ballots for appointing and dismissing the director general. The head of the public broadcaster could also have been dismissed following a vote of no confidence over the improper performance of duties or if the Council failed to approve the annual activity report. Such a decision would have required the support of more than half of all Council members, or at least seven of its 12 members.

The new law defines LRT’s mission and changes the composition of its Council, increasing the number of members from 12 to 15. The president and parliament will each delegate four members, while the remaining seven will be selected by seven organisations, including the Lithuanian Science Council, the Lithuanian Education Council, the Lithuanian Association of Art Creators, the Lithuanian Bishops’ Conference, the Union of Lithuanian Local Community Organisations, the National Coalition of Non-Governmental Organisations and the Lithuanian Disability Organisations Forum.

The amendments also approve the establishment of a Council office.

Under the new rules, the LRT director general may be dismissed before the end of the term by a majority of at least two-thirds of all Council members if the director no longer meets the requirements for impeccable reputation or commits a serious breach of work duties.