2024-07-18 03:09:31
R. Budbergytė claims that the Social Democrats will not support the project
Rasa Budbergytė, an elder of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) faction in the Seimas, assures that almost all of her faction will not support the Civil Union Law if it is included in the agenda of Thursday’s meeting. According to her, the social democrats do not want to participate in the behind-the-scenes political games taking place between the rulers.
“I cannot guarantee one vote, but in fact the others (social democrats – ELTA) have already decided that they will not support,” R. Budbergytė told Elta.
“At the moment, the Freedom faction is blackmailing the ruling coalition, that if there are no support votes from the coalition side for this project, it will not be their support for Landsberg’s candidacy for the post of European Commissioner. And we, social democrats, will certainly not be the political force that will participate in this game and take care of the political future of Gabriela Landsbergis”, emphasized the politician.
According to the elder of the LSDP faction, the desire of the sponsors of this project to include the issue in the agenda of the last day of the Seimas session is also incomprehensible.
“Such important projects are not submitted on the last day when the ordinary session of the parliament ends. We are also people and there will not be some people tomorrow who would support that project. They have already planned vacations with their families for a long time, it’s perfectly logical and you shouldn’t be mad at them for it. The family is as important as the MP’s work,” she emphasized.
S. Skvernelis assures that the Seimas Democrats will not participate in the vote
On his part, Saulius Skvernelis, an elder of the “Vardan Lietuvos” faction of the Seimas Democrats, assures that if the Civil Union Law is included in the agenda of Thursday’s parliamentary session, the faction he leads will not participate in the vote.
“This is not a matter of our political agenda. This is an obvious influence trade. And we certainly won’t be able to participate in this process,” S. Skvernelis said to Elta
“They know very well that they need to have at least 71 participating.” This is the only way to stop this process, it is simply not to gather 71 members of the Seimas in the hall”, he added.
The leader of the faction assures that the decision of the Democrats not to participate in the vote will be unanimous.
“If they try to bulldoze that issue into the agenda, I hope that for the first time we in the faction will have a mandatory vote.” These are all the members of the faction who will not obey that vote, if there were any… But I think there won’t be any,” emphasized S. Skvernelis.
“Those colleagues who had reserved certain support on some issues, I think they understand very well that this time the question is not about the civil union, but the question is about trade in influence,” said the politician.
LVŽS, factions of Lithuanian regions and the Mixed Group of Seimas members will not support the law
Members of the Lithuanian Peasants and Greens Union (LVŽS) in the Seimas would not participate in the vote on the civil union, says Aušrinė Norkienė, the elder of the faction.
“Yes, we have decided not to participate in the voting, thus not giving the opportunity to gather 71 voters,” the politician told Elta.
This initiative will not be supported by the representatives of the Lithuanian regions and the Mixed Seimas group of members in the parliament.
“I can’t speak for everyone, because we often have a free vote. But as far as I know, since two voting stages of this law have already taken place, the majority will definitely not support it,” said Rita Tamašunienė, elder of the Mixed Seimas group, to Eltai.
E. Gentvilas: this is a risky decision
On his part, the elder of the Liberal Movement faction in the Seimas, Eugenijus Gentvilas, assures that the intention to include the civil union in the agenda of Thursday’s meeting is risky.
“This is a risky decision, because all the work that has been done can collapse. This is a project that has passed two stages, it may break,” the politician said to Eltai.
According to him, the possibility that the project may be rejected altogether should also be considered.
“I am afraid that some opposition will unite and may reject the project in the Seimas after two stages. There are few chances, but theoretically it is also necessary”, E. Gentvilas did not hide his apprehension.
He also noted that the support for this initiative in the Liberal Movement faction did not increase.
“There are no changes in our group. Four people are opposed to the project and that number has not decreased. We honestly declare that there are no changes,” he admitted.
A. Vyšniauskas: we do not sit and count votes
At that time, conservative elder Andrius Vyšniauskas assures that the faction’s position on the issue of civil union is clear and support can change only minimally.
“We don’t sit and count – one bag has so many votes, the other bag has so many votes.” The votes of our group are all known, there are two votes. There are as many votes as there are. Yes, perhaps there may be a little more votes, because previously some colleagues could not participate in the voting, someone was sick, they were away and so on,” said A. Vyšniauskas.
“In any case, the majority of our group believes that the civilian issue needs to be resolved sooner or later. And, apparently, we will decide with the coalition partners when that time is – tomorrow, the next day or sometime,” he added.
As ELTA announced earlier, Vytautas Mitalas, an elder of the Freedom faction in the Seimas, does not rule out that the difficult-to-find Civil Union bill may appear on the parliament’s agenda on Thursday. The politician testified that, according to his knowledge, there were additional votes for this law in the ranks of parliamentarians.
This project proposes to regulate both the property and personal non-property relations of persons who are not married, but who are creating mutual relations.
This term’s Seimas, after deliberation, has approved the Civil Union Law project initiated by the ruling majority of parties. In order for it to be adopted, MPs will have to vote again.
It is true that the draft law also stimulated discussions about relations in the governing coalition. Last autumn, the news portal delfi.lt wrote about the plan approved by the board of the “libertarians”, which states that if the adoption of the Civil Union Law fails, the party “may be forced” to block all candidates submitted by the conservatives to the EC. When discussions began this spring about the Lithuanian delegate to the European Commissioners, V. Mitalas hinted that “liberals” will support the candidacy of G. Landsbergis, who is named as the most realistic contender, depending on how the conservatives will “fight” for civil union.
2024-07-18 03:09:31