Veryga links budget support to return of family referendum debate

Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union leader Aurelijus Veryga says his party’s support for the budget will depend on whether a proposed referendum on the definition of family returns to the parliamentary chamber, LRT reports. The Social Democrats say they will seek a compromise.

The proposed advisory referendum would ask voters whether they support defining in the Constitution that family legal relationships arise only from a marriage between a man and a woman. The Seimas, Lithuania’s parliament, has approved the idea in principle, and the proposal is now being considered by its Committee on Legal Affairs and Law and Order.

Veryga says he is not asking lawmakers to vote in favour of the referendum, but wants the committee to consider it sooner. He says the issue has a major bearing on his party’s budget vote and accuses the committee of artificially delaying it.

Committee vice-chair Vitalijus Gailius denies there has been deliberate delay, saying members are preparing to consider the proposal. He said Veryga’s pressure would make him assess it more carefully, and called the demand regrettable and shameful.

Conservative MP Mindaugas Lingė described Veryga’s position as resembling blackmail. Democrat Domas Griškevičius said he had not heard it as a threat to withhold budget support. Some politicians suggested the referendum proposal was intended to encourage the Farmers and Greens’ supporters to vote in municipal elections.

The referendum is proposed for the same day as the municipal elections on March 7. Dawn party leader Remigijus Žemaitaitis said negotiations of this kind over the budget were normal. Social Democrat Rasa Budbergytė said compromise would require concessions from both sides.

Views differ on whether the referendum is needed. Lithuania’s Constitution says marriage is based on the free agreement of a man and a woman and that the family is the foundation of society and the state. The Constitutional Court has ruled that a family can also be formed without marriage, including by same-sex couples. An advisory referendum would show public opinion but would not automatically change legislation. More than half of eligible voters would have to cast ballots for it to take place.