The Krikdem wing will continue to oppose the liberals: will it not dismantle the coalition?

The presentation of the Corporations Law in the Seimas took place on Tuesday. During the meeting, 33 members of the TS-LKD faction, including party chair Gabrielė Landsbergis and Prime Minister Ingrid Šimonytė, voted “against”, 12 voted against and 3 abstained.

By signing a coalition agreement with the Liberal Movement and the Freedom Party, TS-LKD committed to doing everything possible to legitimize a gender-neutral association based on mutual responsibility and voluntary commitment to rights and responsibilities.

I had a tense meeting

In the agreement, the coalition partners stated that they recognized the differences of opinion that existed in the party factions on some of the issues.

It seems that legitimizing an association is one of them.

Before voting on the Association Law, thirteen conservatives of the Seimas expressed a separate opinion and proposed that the issue be resolved by referendum, but the party colleagues objected: the presidium of the TS-LKD forced their representatives in the Seimas not to support the referendum initiative. .

This Board meeting was tense, 15 minutes said Vilija Aleknaitė-Abramikienė, a conservative of the Seimas and representative of the Christian wing, but, according to her, it is useful.

“The presidium meeting was tense, there were many emotions, but many rational things were said. It’s good to me that the discussion has finally taken place, “he said.

Feels stronger

According to the MP, the cricket in the faction has intensified:

“We played cricket all the time, we felt that our opinion did not matter. Now we feel that the conservative side of the group is not small, it can grow even more.”

I’d be lying if I said, my God, what fun it is to have different opinions.

And the fact that there is a difference of opinion in the faction, according to V. Aleknaitė-Abramikienė, is not pleasant, but it is natural:

“It just came to our notice then. I’d be lying if I said, my God, what fun it is to have different opinions. That’s not the case, but it’s natural in today’s world.”

V. Aleknaitė-Abramikienė said that she had never received pressure from colleagues in the faction to vote differently than she would like, and that no one would have persuaded her to vote differently.

Comments that hurt

However, the politician regretted the interpretation that Krikdem’s position on the association was favorable to the Kremlin.

“Too often it is thought that if somewhere in a state that is unacceptable to us there is disapproval of gay marriage, it is automatically equated with our attitude. But our approach is very different.

We do not deny the rights of those people, their ability to discover a legal way of how to resolve a relationship. Such accusations, which I read often, are unacceptable.

We have shown our loyalty to Lithuania, and especially to me, who was a member of the Sąjūdis since June 3, 1988, and I have never betrayed the interests of Lithuania, on the contrary, I defended them. Also – my other colleagues “, – said V. Aleknaitė-Abramikienė.

“It really hurts to read such comments.”

Reject the ratification of the Istanbul Convention

In autumn, the Seimas is scheduled to ratify the Convention on Violence against Women, also known as the Istanbul Convention. When asked how cricketers would vote for her, V. Aleknaitė-Abramikienė replied that she would not agree, although it was expected that she would not make it to the Seimas.

I hope that the Istanbul Convention will not be presented because it is completely unnecessary.

“I hope that the Istanbul Convention will not be presented because it is completely unnecessary. <...> It is not worth it, we can better deal with the problem of violence with our laws, here it is mainly a question of public education, etc. “Said the politician.

“I hope it is not provided, but we certainly would not agree,” he added.

What about the amendments aimed at decriminalizing the possession of drugs without the aim of distributing them?

Decriminalization of drugs will be discussed

V. Aleknaitė-Abramikienė stated that it is still necessary to discuss it.

“The only thing that really hurts me is that sometimes some high school students are caught frivolously for frivolity, that they are subject to the strictest criminal liability. It is not the goal of the state to put as many frivolous young people on camera as possible.

In this sense, changing the responsibility for minor crimes to administrative would probably be appropriate here ”, he considered.

“However, we are concerned that in the text of the law that was presented, there would not be a gradation between the real drug and the low dose with which a captured non-smoking boy or girl would end up in [kategoriją]. I think the discussion will take place there, “added V. Aleknaitė-Abramikienė.

Agrees on the substance

Paulius Saudargas, another Seimas conservative, agreed that the faction’s views on the issues of drug decriminalization and the Istanbul Convention may differ.

“Positions may differ depending on what we have in the final version of the project.” 15 minutes commented.

But these, according to the parliamentarian, are not essential issues, it is said that the Conservative unites quite different things:

“I don’t think the problems you mentioned are fundamental problems that hold us together. Here we can have different opinions and the world will not collapse as a result.

There are fundamental questions: statehood, security, defense, energy. There are things that are not even talked about much ”.

“A high culture of discussion at the party”

“We have developed, I would say, a sufficiently high culture of discussion in the party. We know how to debate those issues, debate in various formats, speak.

In the party we have developed, I would say, a sufficiently high culture of discussion.

We learn that there may be different opinions within the party, we respect the opinions of others, if possible, we seek consensus, compromise.

If it is not available, there is the opportunity to stick to opinions, even to vote separately on various issues in parliament, ”said P. Saudargas.

When asked if the partisan debate was constructive and at the presidium meeting before the vote on the association, the conservative did not want to evaluate it, although he noted that they all stood out peacefully:

“We broke into a warm enough agreement on how we decided to launch electronic voting,” the presidium decided.

Differences – value

Differences of opinion among conservatives are commonplace for this party, 15 minutes commented the political scientist S. Spurga.

And that, he says, is a value.

“It just came to our knowledge then. The value of being able to reconcile things that are difficult to reconcile. The party wins with this,” said the political scientist.

According to him, it is better for the more liberal and Christian flank representatives to stand together and attract voters of appropriate opinions:

“The initiative is now perhaps on the side of more liberal, technocratic politicians, they have a moral majority, but the rest of the party is very valuable. Both are complementary. “

“Coalition Boat Swings”

Issues such as the legalization of the association, the ratification of the Istanbul Convention or the decriminalization of drugs, according to S. Spurga, are causing tensions not only in individual parties, but also in the coalition:

“The ship of the ruling coalition is rocking, but it is not yet boiled.”

The ruling Freedom Party raised the aforementioned issues as a priority when it went to the Seimas, but “politicians turned away from them when concluding a coalition agreement,” S. Spurga noted.

If a political party feels uncomfortable and reaches the limit, what can it do? The only step: you can destroy the coalition. But who will win?

If the Seimas does not take any of the liberal initiatives, the Freedom Party may withdraw from the coalition, he said.

But there will be no benefit from that.

“If a political party feels uncomfortable and reaches the limit, what can it do? The only step: you can destroy the coalition. But who will win? I think that she would also lose, and it is not in the interest of the State if the government that resigns should resign, ”said S. Spurga.