"I would set up such a group today if I were the speaker of the Seimas, the prime minister and Gabrielius Landsbergis, and I would seek contact with representatives of the opposition in bid to eliminate those emotions that are probably not necessary but do exist. Representatives of the ruling block should take up the role of de-escalation as we see what their actions have led to," MP Andrius Mazuronis of the Labor Party political group, told the Ziniu Radijas news radio on Friday.
The ongoing conflict between the ruling parties and the opposition erupted after the Seimas debated on Tuesday an opposition-initiated interpellation for the agriculture minister. As lawmakers were only left to vote on whether to accept the minister's answers, the opposition asked for a recess until the next parliament sitting, hoping to change the balance of political forces in the vote on Thursday.
However, the ruling block convened an unscheduled meeting on Wednesday morning and accepted the agriculture minister's answers. In protest, the opposition snubbed the Seimas sitting on Wednesday and held its separate sitting on Thursday.
Later on, the opposition handed a list of demands to Speaker of the Seimas Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen, saying that if the ruling block continues to disregard them, they will boycott the Seimas until the fall session starting on September 10.
Mazuronis says opposition members are determined to continue snubbing plenary sittings "if there is no attempt from the ruling parties to de-escalate the situation".
He acknowledged, however, that the legitimacy of the opposition's alternative sittings "is nil in the legal sense", adding that, nevertheless, they demonstrate a political position.
Members of five political groups in the Lithuanian Seimas, a total of 67 MPs, are now boycotting the Seimas. They represent the Labor Party, the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union, the Lithuanian Regions Party, the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania, the Democrats "For Lithuania" and the non-attached group.