On Monday, she discussed the work of the upcoming session with members of the Seimas board and President Gitan Nausėda.
“We all see the situation similarly, that economic, energy, social, national security is the main line. This can be seen both from the proposals of the Government and Seimas factions. This, apparently, will be the leitmotif of this spring session, the last full session of this term,” V. Čmilytė-Nielsen told journalists following the meeting.
According to her, parliamentarians will have to approve the National Defense System Strengthening and Development Program, conscription, and amendments to the Laws on the Basic Structure of the Army, related to the creation of a division in the Lithuanian Army.
“We also talked regarding changing the pension accumulation law. Apparently, the government will submit proposals when the Constitutional Court’s answer is received,” asserted the Speaker of the Seimas.
According to her, it is also intended to improve the regulation of the gambling sector, consider the strengthening of the defense industry, energy security, civil security issues.
“I would think that the discussion on defense financing will be quite active, even though there are no concrete projects yet,” thought V. Čmilytė-Nielsen.
President G. Nausėda, for his part, reminded of the importance of national sanctions.
“As far as I know, it is intended to return to this issue. I said from the beginning that trying to distinguish the two regimes – Belarus and Russia – from one another can lead to trouble. Today we see that it is. We have various examples when citizens of Belarus who have settled here, unfortunately, do not show great loyalty to the Republic of Lithuania. It is necessary to react to this,” the head of state said on Monday.
In the middle of February, during an extraordinary session, the Seimas already started considering the Government’s proposal to extend the national sanctions on citizens of Russia and Belarus for another year, with the latter introducing additional checks at the border.
The president also claimed that one of the essential tasks of the spring session will be to agree on the so-called defense tax.
“I really hope that the parties will find a consensus on this issue. (…) It is important that this issue does not become a hostage of election battles”, he said.
G. Nausėda criticized the rhetoric of the ruling conservatives regarding the threat of war to Lithuania as the geopolitical situation in the region worsens.
“We probably all understand very well that it (the general situation – BNS) is not simple, the situation is complicated. On the other hand, I do not accept the efforts that have been seen recently to create a kind of hysteria in society or create such fear that it practically paralyzes people’s work and people’s lives. It doesn’t make sense,” he said.
“In reality, the threats have not disappeared, we admit that, but we must work in a focused manner, react to phenomena and processes normally, adequately and, most importantly, not react with any apocalyptic statements, but simply by making decisions that are necessary,” said the president.
The spring session of the Seimas will begin on Sunday, March 10. According to the Constitution, it will last until June 30. Elections for the new parliament will be held in October.
According to V. Čmilytė-Nielsen, currently 392 draft legal acts are planned for consideration, seven of them are submitted by the President, 89 by the Government, the rest have been registered and will be submitted by Seimas members, Seimas factions.
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2024-04-25 10:49:34
