"Our political group has agreed that we will not vote on draft laws presented by Žemaitaitis as it has been acknowledged that this person had violated the constitution and his oath. His proposals should not be considered, he should not take the lectern," leader of the Liberal Movement Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen told reporters in parliament on Thursday.
Žemaitaitis had stepped down from parliament in April 2024 to avoid impeachment after the Constitutional Court ruled that he breached the constitution and the MP’s oath by making numerous antisemitic statements online. The resignation enabled him to run for parliament again in October that year and he was elected to parliament as the leader of the Nemunas Dawn party.
Čmilytė-Nielsen added that the idea raised by Žemaitaitis to audit LRT was politicised.
"In this case, it is dictated to the National Audit Office what audits to undertake, even though the National Audit Office had clearly stated at the [Seimas] Audit Committee that they do not see a reason for this. Political pressure, speaking about the media, is not acceptable," said the chairwoman of the Liberal Movement.
As reported, Žemaitaitis proposes that an audit would be carried out into the public broadcaster’s activities in 2021-2024 in terms of economic efficiency. If approved, the National Audit Office would have to complete it by 1 September.
The LRT stated that it welcomes all initiatives for audits and would see it as an opportunity to further improve its activities and make them more efficient.
The LRT, which employs 700 people, has a budget of EUR 79.6 million for 2025.