All 76 members of the Seimas that were present for the session voted for the expense account cut. Photo by Nathan Greenhalgh.
VILNIUS — Despite initial disagreement, the Lithuanian parliament unanimously voted Thursday morning to cut its members’ personal expense accounts by 35 percent.
All 76 members of the Seimas that were present for the session voted to cut the monthly expenditure accounts for members from 3,200 litai (€926) to 2,100 litai (€608), the average monthly salary in Lithuania from Jan. 1 2010 until Jan. 1, 2011. The amendment to the Seimas statute was authored by the recently elected Speaker of the Seimas Irena Degutienė, and because it is a not a parliamentary bill it does not need to be signed by the president to take effect.
“She thinks that its a good thing and it’s good it passed, in accordance with the economic situation and to demonstrate solidarity with the people who are not living in good conditions,” Juozas Ruzys, spokesman for Degutienė’s office, told Baltic Reports.
Degutienė argued that given the austerity measures the government was implementing such as public employee wage cuts, reduced social welfare benefits and higher taxes, it was only fair that parliament members also sacrifice. Improving the Seimas’ image to the Lithuanian public is also part of the impetus to pass the amendment.
When Degutienė was elected to the speaker position in September, media scrutiny on the use of taxpayer-funded expense accounts was intense. Lithuanian news outlets was abuzz with a report that during the summer months, over a million litai had been paid out for Seimas members’ expense funds for things like German language lessons and hotel rooms while attending the Lithuanian national basketball team’s games abroad. Meanwhile a recent Pew Research Center poll shows that 78 percent of Lithuanians consider government corruption to be biggest challenge the nation faces.
More to do
Ruzys said that while the expense accounts reduction was a step in the right direction, more would have to be done to resuscitate Lithuanian’s faith in the Seimas.
“She thinks this is only the beginning,” Ruzys told Baltic Reports. “One of the most important things that she thinks could be done as well is to get more dialogue between the parliament and the people … in the opinion of the speaker, the parliament should put on the schedule more time for discussions in committee, to invite non-governmental organizations to participate in more discussions.”
