The cat that could decide the fate of the public radio and television station in Lithuania
Lithuanian lawmakers have voted to allow a cat to have a say in the possible dismissal of the head of the national broadcaster, Politico reports.
The unusual situation comes as Lithuania's unicameral Parliament (Seimas) seeks to urgently adopt a reform of the rules governing public broadcaster LRT, a move aimed at facilitating the sacking of the director general.
The reform came in response to a recent audit that identified deficiencies at the public radio station — even though it did not recommend changing the general manager or the rules for firing LRT management.
Critics of the proposed changes claim that the reform is designed specifically to remove the current director general of the LRT, Monika Garbačiauskaitė-Budrienė.
Coal and the vote of confidence
Opposition lawmakers want to slow down the process and have tabled more than 100 amendments to that end.
One of the amendments stipulates that the general director of the LRT can be dismissed only if the black cat of the opposition MP Agnė Širinskienė, named Nuodėgulis (in translation coal) expresses her lack of confidence in Garbačiauskaitė-Budrienė.
Parliament voted in favor of the entire package of amendments, including the one related to the cat.
A final vote on the changes to the law governing the public broadcaster was expected on Thursday, but the chairman of the parliamentary committee on culture, which must consider the amendments, is in hospital. Parliament Speaker Juozas Olekas said the vote would likely be postponed until January.
President Gitanas Nausėda may decide to reject the amendment to the law.
“Should we reject it with the cat or adopt it with the cat? What are we talking about, in fact? Are we discussing a serious bill that officially reaches the presidency or are we telling jokes?” Nausėda told journalists at the entrance to the European Council in Brussels.
