MP says fines could push ministry to register partnerships

Lithuania’s Justice Ministry could be pushed to register same-sex partnerships by accumulating fines for failing to comply with court rulings, Human Rights Committee chair Laurynas Šedvydis said, according to LRT.

Šedvydis was speaking after the ministry failed to overturn a court order requiring the state to register the partnership of two women from Vilnius, but continued to say it would not implement the final ruling. The ministry says a law must be passed before partnerships can be registered.

“We are talking about implementing court decisions. If they are not implemented, the ministry will pay fines, and those fines will accumulate,” Šedvydis told BNS.

He said that if the ministry had to pay several thousand euros a day in fines, “decisions would then appear”. Lawyer Aivaras Žilvinskas said fines had already been imposed in Lithuania for failing to comply with court decisions, but the ministry had appealed them.

About 50 couples have taken partnership registration cases to court, and roughly half are still being litigated, according to the report. In some cases, the state has had to cover legal costs amounting to thousands of euros.

Several other rulings have become final after first-instance decisions because the ministry did not appeal them while it was led by Rimantas Mockus, nominated by the “Dawn” party. Šedvydis said Parliament could resolve the issue by passing a law, but legislation has stalled.

A group of Social Democrats, liberals and Conservatives registered a proposal last autumn to establish gender-neutral partnerships through the Civil Code. The bill has not been added to the agenda for parliamentary plenary sessions.

Opposition Liberal leader Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen described the ministry’s and Justice Minister Rita Tamašunienė’s conduct as deliberate and damaging. “The Ministry of Justice, which should protect the foundations of the law, is undermining them,” she told BNS.

Čmilytė-Nielsen said the minister could face political responsibility and that legal responsibility could not be ruled out if couples brought a case over actions by the minister or ministry leadership. She questioned whether Tamašunienė could remain in office, while noting that an impeachment motion would likely lack sufficient political support.

Attempts to legalise gender-neutral partnerships in Parliament have previously failed. During the last parliamentary term, lawmakers considered a Civil Union bill and amendments to the Civil Code introducing the concept of a “close relationship”, but neither was adopted.