The days of parliamentary cats at the Seimas hotel are coming to an end: compared to rental prices in Vilnius

“The current stage can be described as the end of the situation. An evaluation of the hotel and its separate parts has already been carried out, the issue has been discussed several times at the board, and the structure of rental prices in Vilnius has been clarified. The last stage remained in the interpretation stage, the Seimas Board has requested the position of the factions. I hope that the factions will express their position in the next week, “Jurgis Razma, first vice president of the Seimas of the Christian Democratic faction, told Delfi of the National-Lithuanian Union.

According to him, tentatively, political groups have already expressed their views.

“I would dare to say that almost all the opposition groups are against and the rulers are against the hotel. (…) The new Chancellor was also expected, since it is a sufficiently significant economic act. If it was agreed that it would be taken, it would have to be done when there is a permanent chancellor. I look forward to a political decision on this issue between sessions for the summer, “said Mr. Razma.

The Vice President of Seimas believes that if it were decided to leave the Seimas Hotel, it would be possible to do so from January 1 of next year.

“If we make a decision before the summer, then the Seimas members would have half a year to move into rented apartments, to work out the regulation of benefits and their allocation. It’s enough time, “commented J. Razma.

According to the interlocutor, the Seimas factions are presented with several options regarding the possible amount of rental compensation.

“There is a lower amount with the possibility of contributing with the expenses of parliamentary activities, there is an option with a slightly higher amount. It will be seen as the response of the faction. On the one hand, we want this amount to allow renting the minimum necessary housing, but at the same time, so that from the public point of view it does not seem like a large amount ”, said J. Razma.

In his opinion, it would be possible to request that the funds received from the sale of the hotel go to the Seimas Chancellery, which could direct them to the parliament environment.

J. Razma himself supports the idea of ​​leaving the Seimas Hotel.

“I think the Seimas is now bogged down in unnecessary functions: managing the hotel, establishing procedures for who can live there. We remember stories when a member of the Seimas, who lives not far from Vilnius, takes his offspring or, about the layout of the rooms, someone got bigger, someone smaller. We are involved in a kind of nothing, although the purpose of the Seimas is certainly not a hotel activity, “said the interlocutor.

Don’t think you can save a lot

Meanwhile, the vice president of the Seimas of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party, Julius Sabatauskas, does not support more than he supports the refusal of the Seimas hotel.

“It is said that we will benefit when we sell the hotel. Supposedly, it will be possible to pay compensation for twenty years to the natives of the Seimas, who must be provided with a living space, for that money. Argument against: the money does not go to the Seimas, but to the state budget. Every year, the Seimas receives credits again. There is no guarantee that the money will be credited, ”said J. Sabatauskas.

The MP also drew attention to the fact that rental prices for houses in Vilnius continue to rise.

“The bubble is growing, I don’t know when it will burst. The prices are huge. Now, every time you calculate how much it costs to maintain a Seimas hotel, you are counting on future repairs that the Seimas hotel doesn’t really have. The previous legislature of the board calculated that the cost of maintaining a house per month was 73 euros. Now those calculations go almost to the ceiling. In my opinion, solving that problem through compensation will be more expensive than maintaining the building, ”said J. Sabatauskas.

According to him, different countries in the world approach the issue differently.

“I don’t see any particular economic benefit, and looking only at the principle that MPs should take care of themselves, then the rules should be clear from the start, so they don’t change in the middle of the term,” said J. Sabatauskas.

Calculated annual maintenance costs

From the information provided to the factions of the Seimas Chancellery, it can be seen that the average annual maintenance costs of a Seimas hotel during the last 5 years (2016-2020) amounted to 281 thousand LTL. euros.

The document presented to the parliamentarians describes general information about the hotel. It is shown in the following table.

“After estimating the fixed costs of maintenance and operation of the hotel for the next 5 years and the estimated values ​​of the work required (to ensure the proper functioning of the building, spent engineering systems and orderly housing), the maintenance costs of the Seimas hotel during the next 5 years (2021-2025.) it would average around 575 thousand Eur annually ”, the document reads.

According to him, calculating the long-term costs (in this case 2016-2025), the average annual maintenance costs of a Seimas hotel would amount to around 428 thousand. euros.

The document provides parliamentarians with information on apartment rental prices in Vilnius.

Compensation offers

According to the Seimas Chancellery, it would be convenient to link the amount of compensation for housing rental with the average monthly salary before taxes (hereinafter, VMDU), whose growth would offset the increase in housing rental prices. According to the latest data for 2020. Fourth quarter VMDU amounted to 1,512.30 euros.

Taking into account the composition of the Seimas members of the previous (2016-2020) and current (2020-2024), and the fact that the average number of Seimas members who have accommodation in a Seimas hotel is about 60 per year, with different compensation, the rental amounts per dwelling, according to the Registry’s calculation, would be the following:

“A fixed amount of compensation would be added to the funds earmarked for parliamentary activities. In this way, a member of the Seimas could independently decide which accommodation service to choose for him (long-term rental, several nights a week in a hotel, choice of rental housing according to needs, transportation costs, etc.). ”read the document.