Lithuanian opposition questions Speaker over Venice Commission responses on LRT law

Opposition members in Lithuania's Seimas are demanding answers from Speaker Juozas Olekas about the process of responding to the Venice Commission's findings on the LRT law. A group of parliamentarians, including members from the conservative and liberal parties, formally requested Olekas to share the commission's remarks and explain why the Culture Committee was not tasked with preparing the response, a role it typically handles.

Parliamentarians noted that the Speaker himself prepared the responses to the Venice Commission, which was reviewing the draft LRT law. They sought to be briefed on these remarks during a plenary session. Olekas had previously indicated he would address these questions on June 4.

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We ask that in the nearest Seimas session: familiarize Seimas members with the remarks submitted to the Venice Commission regarding the LRT law project and present them to the Seimas by reading them aloud; answer on what grounds the Culture Committee was not delegated to prepare the response according to its competence to the Venice Commission, when in other cases it is delegated to prepare responses to committees.

The controversy comes as the Seimas recently approved amendments to the LRT law. These changes, developed by a working group chaired by the Speaker and later revised by the Culture Committee, introduce a definition of the LRT's mission, alter the structure of the Council, establish a Board, and modify procedures for dismissing the general director. Opposition representatives chose not to participate in the final vote on these amendments.

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On May 6, 2026, during the Culture Committee meeting, committee chairman Kęstutis Vilkauskas informed that the Speaker of the Seimas was preparing responses to the European Commission 'Democracy through Law' (Venice Commission) on the LRT law project on behalf of the Lithuanian Republic's Seimas, but Seimas members were not acquainted with these remarks.