Čmilytė-Nielsen says opponents aim to use MG Baltic case verdict against coalition

Seimas Speaker Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen says that the parliamentary opposition is manipulating the verdict of the Court of Appeal in the so-called MG Baltic case to harm both the Liberal Movement and the ruling majority.

“The ruling of the Court of Appeal in this case [MG Baltic], issued on 22 November this year, has had great repercussions, and it is understandable that political opponents are trying to use this decision against the coalition, against the Liberals Movement and against me personally,” Čmilytė-Nielsen, leader of the Liberal Movement, said when answering questions of the opposition in Parliament on Tuesday.

“However, [efforts to] manipulate the judgment, accusations or the use of epithets that are not based on the circumstances of the case or the facts or the law, such as ‘criminal organisation’, are worrying,” she continued.

The opposition asked the Seimas speaker about her approach to standards of transparency and political ethics.

The MPs cited the preamble of the coalition agreement which said that the ruling parties will place “moral and ethical criteria for their actions” on an equal footing with legal requirements, and strengthen political culture and people’s trust in the state by personal examples.

Čmilytė-Nielsen underlined that the Court of Appeal had fined the Liberal Movement, but had not restricted the party’s right to participate in legislative processes.

“The Liberal Movement’s participation in political activities is not limited by any legal means. It can only be limited by the will of the Lithuanian electorate – and we will see their verdict next year,” she said.

The Court of Appeal’s judgment has been appealed to the Supreme Court, which will give the final say in the case, according to Čmilytė-Nielsen.

“I respect the court’s decision, but I disagree with the attempts of some opponents to link a story that is more than seven years old to the Liberal Movement in 2023 or to me, the party chair, who took office in 2019,” she reiterated, adding that the Liberals had taken the necessary transparency-related steps after the scandal broke out in 2016.

“I cannot accept calls to take responsibility for something that does not concern me as a person or as a politician elected to the Parliament in 2020,” she concluded.