Proposal to revoke Landsbergis' head of state status fuels division - Lithuanian PM

VILNIUS - Lithuanian Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas said on Tuesday that a proposal to revoke the law granting Supreme Council Chairman Vytautas Landsbergis the status of head of state is fueling division in the country.

"I didn't support this proposal in the last parliamentary term because I believe that heads of state are elected and you can't give or take away that status by law. And since you can't give or take it away, following the same logic, I see no need to debate it now," Paluckas told reporters.

"In the face of all these geopolitical changes, we are now trying to unite, to stand together, and to build trust in one another. But this initiative is once again (...) splitting Lithuania in two. Some people love the professor, others hate him - why stir this up now? We've got more complex issues to deal with," he said.

Adopted on June 30, 2022, the law states that the chairman of the Supreme Council held and exercised the constitutional powers of the head of state between March 11, 1990 and November 25, 1992.

Landsbergis held the post during that period.

In the final vote, the bill was supported by 74 MPs, mostly from the then-ruling Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats, the Liberal Movement and the Freedom Party. Three MPs from the then-opposition Democrats "For Lithuania" also voted in favor, but their leader, Saulius Skvernelis, was not among them.

The new proposal to repeal the law was registered by Rimas Jonas Jankunas, a member of the political group of the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union and the Christian Families Alliance.

Jankunas argues that the law granting the status is unconstitutional.

Skvernelis, currently the speaker of the Seimas, said earlier this week that the proposal to revoke the law is state "isn't a key issue" at the moment.