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The Seimas, who met for the spring session on Wednesday, will begin their work “live” in the plenary room, but next week the sessions will be held remotely.
“Today we are meeting for the first live meeting, next week we plan to work remotely. And then, the Seimas Board will decide, evaluating the circumstances, the number of illnesses, whether it is a fireplace in the Seimas, and things for the style, ”Seimas spokeswoman Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen told reporters ahead of the session.
Photo by Luke April / 15min / Victoria Čmilytė-Nielsen
Although as far as she knows, there are no members of the Seimas suffering from coronavirus, but the parliament, according to the president of the Seimas, still needs to protect itself against this disease.
“We have to be very careful, circumstances change every day. We see what is happening in neighboring countries,” said V.Čmilytė-Nielsen, evaluating that the Baltic country has reached the British strain of the disease.
Considers that telework should be abandoned
S. Skvernelis, who works in the opposition “peasants” faction, criticized Seimas’s decision to remain seated at a distance.
“That desire to push Seimas to telework is very obvious. Most fragile, sensitive bills can appear and work outside the plenary makes discussion, articulation and cooperation between factions difficult,” he told reporters.
According to the politician, members of the Seimas and ministers should be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Then they wouldn’t have to pay for their regular tests, they wouldn’t have to isolate themselves after contact with the patient.
“To show initiative to the President of Seimas, the Board of Seimas. I think that the factions of the office would also support it, it is necessary to vaccinate the members of the Seimas and close the issue at this stage, that is, to work live.
Even more so, taking into account the number of people who have been vaccinated, here they would not be large numbers. Because that test that is done before each meeting costs taxpayers. If half the members of the Seimas get together to test, about 6,000 thousand. euros. Money is thrown away where it is not needed, “said S. Skvernelis.
It seems really strange and stupid when ministers fall into isolation one after another.
“The order of the minister must be modified and the government itself must be vaccinated in the same way. It seems really strange and stupid when ministers fall into isolation one after another. That should not be the case. “
S. Skvernelis has already been vaccinated
S. Skvernelis, who had lymphoma, said he had already been vaccinated against COVID-19. He was vaccinated with Pfizer and BioNTech.
“I’m vaccinated, but I really don’t want anyone to be in the priority order I’m in,” the former prime minister said.
„[Skiepytis] it is worth it, even the questions do not arise, especially for those who have or have had serious problems with the diseases in question. I don’t feel any negative symptoms ”, he assured.
Algirdas Sys, the largest of the Social Democratic opposition, has also spoken out on the need to vaccinate parliamentarians against COVID-19.
“Vaccinate us all with the AstraZeneca vaccine, whose people really do not want us to be able to work. It is much cheaper than once a week or twice a week to do a test that costs 80 euros. Yes 80 percent. Seimas is doing , you can calculate how much it costs taxpayers “, – 15 minutes commented on politics.
Photo by Luke April / 15 minutes / Algirdas Sysas
According to him, such a decision would not be a privilege for the members of the Seimas.
According to the order signed by the Minister of Health, which establishes the vaccination order for priority groups, the members of the Seimas and the ministers must be vaccinated against COVID-19 when people who perform vital state and public functions are vaccinated.
This could happen in April, according to a vaccination plan announced by the Ministry of Health.
I.Šimonytė: politicians will definitely wait
Prime Minister I. Šimonytė expressed his opposition to the proposal to vaccinate parliamentarians or members of the Seimas earlier.
“There is not much left to talk about large-scale vaccination. I am sure that both the members of the Government and the members of the Seimas will definitely wait. A member of the Seimas and a member of the Government who is isolated can work better remotely, ”he said.
The Prime Minister emphasized that the majority of the Lithuanian population works remotely. Politicians can do the same.
In fact, both the Seimas and the Government can work remotely.
“At a time when a large part of the Lithuanian population works remotely, both the Seimas and the government can certainly work in this way. The Seimas have already learned to work remotely, the government has probably been able to do so for some time. For a long time, committees have been working remotely for probably a year, and I think it’s quite comfortable.
The remote method also saves time, since it is not necessary to allocate it for travel and crossings, ”said I. Šimonytė.
The Seimas Spokesperson also asked for a wait.
“Regarding the vaccination of Seimas members, I think there are still many vulnerable groups that are waiting for vaccination and we must look at the bigger picture and not be too quick to overlook those who need the vaccine most now,” he said. .
The Seimas could be the institution that sets an example.
“We started remote coherence in January, we demonstrated that it is possible, considering that many institutions work remotely, the Seimas could be the institution that sets an example that it is possible to work remotely,” said the head of parliament.
The Seimas met for the first remote session on January 12. It is true that not all parliamentarians were satisfied with that: the “peasant” Valius Ąžuolas and the member of the mixed group of members of the Seimas, Kęstutis Glaveckas, were working in the plenary hall of the Seimas at that time.
The Seimas needed telecommuting after COVID-19 spread here, and epidemiologists called parliament a hotbed.
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