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Valius Ąžuolas, representative of the Lithuanian Peasants and Greens Union (LVŽS), entertained his colleagues this year and joined the committee meeting without going to Egypt without a board decision.
Upon returning from vacation, he claimed that he had moved to work in Egypt because his wife had donated a trip to him.
Currently, Seimas members can miss as many sessions as they want and their sanctions are not threatened. It was proposed to change the procedure.
“Certain penalties are foreseen for missing sessions without a justifiable reason,” Seimas president Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen told the media.
The salary of a Seimas member would be reduced by 5 percent for each session missed without a justifiable reason. The salary of an ordinary member of the Seimas is about 2,100 euros. There are two meetings a day. So one day if a parliamentarian does not work, he would lose about 200 euros.
“If I have not participated anywhere for a whole month, I will hardly receive a salary for that month,” explained Stasys Šedbaras, chairman of the Law and Order Committee of the Seimas.
If such an order had been in force until now, V. Ąžuolas himself would have lost the largest amount of salary.
You missed one of the four meetings this year for no good reason. From January to September, 64 meetings were held, V. Ąžuolas missed 17.
“It was one of those meetings where he was isolated,” he said.
Andrius Navickas, representative of the Conservative Group, missed 14 of the 64 meetings.
“The Ethics and Procedures Commission does not need to carry a note now, but I reported. I was also very ill,” the politician explained.
Another conservative, Antanas Čepononis, is convinced that he did not miss the meetings. But according to the data provided by the Seimas, the parliamentarian missed 4 sessions this year.
“Maybe, I don’t know if something needs to be done about it,” he told LNK.
Linas Kukuraitis did not provide an explanation for why she missed the meetings.
“Every time I appeal to the Ethics Commission, I cannot participate in a specific vote at this time,” he said.
Tom Tomilin missed 5 meetings. He said he missed meetings specifically to protect himself against the virus.
“I did not visit myself voluntarily because I was very careful, although I had no formal reasons,” he said.
But there will be no penalties for missed Seimas sessions. The current order, which has been declared unconstitutional, is maintained.
“We have to say with regret that this Seimas cannot pass that law on its own,” conservative Jurgis Razma said in the Seimas hall on Thursday.
“I would like the public to understand that the main decisions are made outside the room. In the corridor there is usually a formalization of decisions,” explained T. Tomilinas.
Currently, the members of the Seimas also decide on their vacations, which are not regulated in any way. The Constitutional Court has said that this is unconstitutional. The Seimas is obliged to establish vacations.
But the deputies decided to leave their vacations unregulated.
“However, looking at the examples from other countries, most of the old democracies do not foresee a specific period of leave,” said the president of Seimas.
According to the politicians, they must be prepared to meet at the Seimas at any time. An example is the urgent meeting on the fence near Belarus in the summer. It is said that if at least part of the politicians were on leave at the same time, the adoption of the necessary laws for the country would be paralyzed.
“It just came to our attention then. Because the work of a member of the Seimas is uninterrupted. You have seen, and in the summers it takes place, meetings, committee meetings,” explained MP Saulius Skvernelis.
Holidays are easier for Seimas members who are also ministers.
“A member of the Seimas does not have vacations. But the ministers do. And if you look at it lately, the ministers were on vacation, but as a member of the Seimas he was nowhere to be found. Isn’t that funny?” Remigijus Žemaitaitis explained.
This year, many governors who work in the Seimas and the government cut their summer vacations due to the migration crisis, and some canceled them entirely.
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