Lithuania’s ruling coalition plans to go ahead with legislation that would make it easier to dismiss the director general of the country’s public broadcaster, Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT), BNS reports. Juozas Olekas, speaker of the Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, said that the coalition intended to submit a new version of draft amendments after input from a working group by February 2025, BNS reported. Birute Davidonyte, chairwoman of the Association of Professional Journalists (ZPA), noted that the working group appeared to be aimed at reducing tensions while passing the same amendments as proposed before.
Meanwhile, President Gitanas Nauseda said that the ruling coalition had pledged not to rush the amendments and the opposition not to filibuster the parliamentary process. Earlier, opposition MPs registered about 1,000 amendments to delay the draft bill. At the same time, Nauseda insisted that members of LRT’s governing council delegated by politicians were, in fact, independent. Lithuania’s Special Investigation Service (STT) warned that the proposed amendments could threaten transparency and media independence, BNS reported. Also, STT suggested postponing the legislation until the current LRT director’s term of office expires.