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The project initiated by the rulers was approved on Friday by 61 votes in favor, eight against and 26 abstentions.
The ruling and some conservatives voted in favor of the project, the liberals and a large part of the mixed group Seimas voted against.
The law will take effect on January 1, 2021. For the law to take effect, the law must be signed by the president.
The “campesinos” launched a new project after police reported a corruption case in which the leaders of two business organizations were suspected of lobbying-related crimes. The project was presented to Seimas last week.
Conservative Jurgis Razma, who spoke in favor of the bill, said that “the public has high expectations for the passage of this bill, it is believed that it will improve the transparency of the legislative process and reduce illegal influences,” although it also has deficiencies.
Speaking before the project, Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, leader of the Liberal Movement, said the new Lobbying Law could “recognize all the problems in our legislation.”
“First of all, it is an occasional law, to which we return after a resounding story, another, it is perforated, it will have to be corrected, it is flawed.” Today, it is registered by people who do not record any meetings with lobbyists in a few months, which shows a certain hypocrisy, ”said V. Čmilytė-Nielsen.
Agnė Širinskienė, the head of the Seimas Law and Order Committee, who previously presented the project to Seimas, noted that it intends to establish a cross declaration of lobbying activities and the need for business associations to register as lobbyists, to expand the definition of lobbyist to include trade associations.
By law, a lobbyist is defined as a natural person, legal entity, or other organization or subdivision thereof engaged in lobbying activities. Lobbying activities would not be considered public interest activities of public legal entities explicitly mentioned in special laws.
The lobbying bill was initiated by more than 30 MPs, mostly the ruling “peasants”: the party leader Ramūnas Karbauskis, head of the Seimas A. Širinskienė Law and Order Committee, the vice president of Seimas, Arvydas Nekrošius , and others.
The Seimas has already tried to adopt a new lobbying regulation, but without success.
The Ministry of Justice had drafted a new version of the Lobbying Law, but it was stuck in the Seimas late last year.
Discussion on the new Lobbying Law was resumed after the alleged law enforcement officers were received by the former president of the Lithuanian Business Confederation, Valdas Sutkus, and the president of the Lithuanian Bank Association, Mantas Zalatorius .
Žydrūnas Bartkus, Director of the Special Investigation Service, told reporters that the alleged crimes in this case are related to lobbying.
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