Seimas on Tuesday imposed a one-and-a-half-times longer criminal conviction and lengthened the times allowed for addressing legal issues, but did not tighten liability for those convicted of corruption or bribery.

The Speaker of the Seimas could not answer why the parliament was reluctant to regulate more strictly the responsibility for these crimes, given that the fight against corruption was pointed out by President Dalia Grybauskaite.

“the Legal Committee has improved this project and their version was seen by the great majority of the Seimas members as more acceptable than the original version,” she told radio on Wednesday morning.

According to the Head of the Seimas, fighting smuggling and the shadow economy are the main challenges now.

“If the state has these sores, abscesses and terrible untidiness, it will certainly be hard to talk about economic growth, fiscal deficit balance,” she said.

Under the Criminal Code the Seimas adopted amendments for criminal offenses and decided to extend the period for prosecution from two to three years for non-hardcore crimes and not-negligent or deliberate crimes from five to eight years.

Crimes with moderate offenses were extended from eight to 12 years. The serious crime limitation period was extended from 10 to 15 years. For very serious crimes it was extended from 15 to 25 years and for crimes related to the deliberate termination of another human life – from 20 to 30 years.

President Dalia Grybauskaite said in a commemoration event that all of the bereavements have to be evaluated for the good of the future, the Baltic News Service reported.

“All of those losses – not forgetting a single man – have to be named and evaluated for the good of the future. So that it would never repeat again, and those losses would remain the most painful period in the history of this nation,” the Lithuanian president said.

The day of the mourning and hope is commemorated in Lithuania, remembering the June 14 of 1941, when the exile began after the Soviet Union had occupied Lithuania in 1940.

Seimas speaker Irena Degutiene emphasized that June 14 is not only mourning, but also a hopeful day for Lithuania.

“Commemorating the defenders of the freedom today, let‘s not forget, that today it‘s also a day for hope, a hope that withstands the threats of alien militaries and nurtures generations for freedom, a hope, that transforms a small nation into a proud fighter and helps to win the fight for truth,” said Degutiene.

Latvian president Valdis Zatlers, speaking to thousands of Latvians gathered around the monument of Freedom, said that what happened, cannot be forgotten. “It cannot be forgotten, it was genocide of Latvian people.”

The Estonian president stated that the historical truth has to be protected, because hard work has been done to ascertain it, BNS reported.

Lithuanians have thrown the ball into Poland’s court on the issue of Polish minority rights in Lithuania.  On her visit to the Lithuanian ethnic minority in Poland’s border region, Parliamentary Speaker Irena Degutiene said publicly that the Lithuanian Poles should stop complaining about Lithuania’s names spelling law in the documents since it will soon be similar to Latvia’s law. 

The Speaker noted that Latvia’s Polish community is complaining about it.

Degutiene told journalists on 11 June, “Settlement of the issue is about to be completed and I have an impression that we have come up with a solution, which will be analogous to the law adopted in the neighbouring Latvia. This is to allow Lithuanian-language entries on the front page of passports and Latin characters on the second page.” 

The Speaker noted that Lithuania’s Constitution is very peculiar on the issue, but the Lithuania’s Polish minority should be satisfied with the new law.  “Poles residing in Latvia are at the moment happy with the solution. I believe there will be no objections in Lithuania, as well.”  She also added, “This, first of all, won’t violate the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania.”

Degutiene was asked if Lithuania could apply the parity principle, since the Lithuanian ethnic minority in Poland is allowed to use the Lithuanian letters while spelling their names in official documents.  The Speaker once again referred to Lithuania’s Constitution saying, “there are different Constitutions in both countries, and this is the main problem. It would either require amending the Constitution or coming up with a compromise version.”

The Speaker also drew attention to the education problems of Poland’s Lithuanian minority.  “I have some regrets but the problems are old or, to be exact, long-lasting. This includes problems related with education and fostering of the ethnic culture,” Degutiene said to the journalists.  She also referred to the funding problems of a private Lithuanian-language School Ziburys.  The Speaker said, “I am astonished and surprised by the fact that the Ziburys School is virtually not funded (by the Polish state) this year and that it does not have any Lithuanian-language textbooks.”

The new minister said that Lithuania and Latvia are having an outstanding relationship.  Seimas’ Speaker stated that Lithuania is aiming tighten the Baltic-Nordic parliamentary cooperation.

The Speaker noted that Baltic States would be heard better if they would cooperate closely and hold consultations to coordinated their positions.

“It was very unpleasant for me to see that the veterans rally was held in Cathedral Square. After twenty years of independence — for me, a Lithuanian national who was waiting for freedom — to see the veterans in cathedral square was nasty,” Degutiene said on radio.

She said that her party, the Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats, would hold mayor Vilius Navickas liable for the controversial parade.

The May 9 marches mark the Soviet Union’s victory over the Nazis in World War II, but Lithuanians see the day as the start of the illegal occupation of their country by Russia.

According to the Degutiene, the war was cruel to all nations, but Lithuania’s occupation started at the end of it.

“The location is very poor. All understated interplay of minute historical memories. It is not very consistent with what took place in the cathedral square,” she said.

The cathedral square played host to the Baltic human chain that linked the three countries in a collective act of defiance against Moscow while the countries were still under occupation.

Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats party will meet on Wednesday and discuss the issue amongst others.

Navickas approved two controversial marches on one weekend in Vilnius, allowing both the May 9 march and the gay parade, which was held on May 8.

Lithuania’s President Dalia Grybauskaite has spoken her mind again – there is no need for premature Parliamentary elections in Lithuania. The head of the office group for policy analysis and institutional relations Audrone Nugaraite communicated the message on 11 May on Ziniu radijas talk show.

“At this point, the president sees no objective reasons for calling premature Seimas elections,” the advisor saids.  Advisor Nugaraite also said that the premature elections would not change much.  “It is very unlikely that someone could pledge – as ruling and opposition leaders and MPs have all indicated – that a new Seimas could bring any radical changes to the present situation, or that it would improve it or perform miracles, and no one could guarantee that the new majority would be stable and strong,” she said.

President Grybauskate has sent a strong signal to the Social Democrat party that had suggested calling for premature elections together with the municipality elections in 2011.

Since the Government has ceased to be a majority coalition it is mullingconsidering n idea of asking one or several political groups of Seimas to join it.  Seimas Speaker Irena Degutiene stated to the TV3 channel on 9 May programme that she would not rule out a possibility to speak to the Christian political group with 11 MPs.  She did not rule out the prospect of talking to the Order and Justice political group and Labour political group in the parliament either.  The speaker specifically mentioned the political groups since the leaders of those parties are not parliamentarians, with whom the Conservative party does not get along.  When asked to indicate the weakest coalition partner she has indicated the Insurrection party, chaired by Arunas Valinskas.

Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius saw great potential for a broader coalition.  In an interview with public radio on 11 May the Prime Minister said, “Let me tell you once again; I see a rather good prospect to strengthen the ruling coalition in Seimas.  The parties that had illusions to form an alternative with the Social Democrats found out that this is impossible.”  Andrius Kubilius said because of that, “it is necessary to consider all options how to strengthen the ruling coalition.’  The Prime Minister called this possible coalition an anti-nomenklatura coalition.

A survey, requested by Alfa.lt news portal and Lietuvos Zinios daily, and conducted by Rinkos Tyrimu centras, also shows that the Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats would get 17.8 percent of votes from those who would participate in election. Another 16.5 percent would give their vote for Lithuanian Social Democrats.

The Labour party is the favourite for 12.5 percent favouring the party, while Order and Justice party would receive 8.9 percent.

Two liberal parties, currently in the ruling coalition, Liberal and Centre Union and Liberal Movement, would get 4.4 and 3.8 percent of the votes respectively.

The Rising Nation party would receive only 1.6 percent of the votes. Some 25.7 percent of people, who would vote in the election, have not made up their minds on their favourite political parties yet.

Respondents of the poll were asked to evaluate the performance of different institutions and public figures in scale 1 to 10, where 10 represents the best performance.

Dalia Grybauskaite, the president, receives the highest rate of 8.4 points, while Seimas Speaker Irena Degutiene gets 7.3 points. The leader of the social democrats and the head of the parliamentary opposition Algirdas Butkevicius receives 6 points.

The fourth in the ratings is transport and communications minister Eligijus Masiulis with 5.9 points. Rasa Jukneviciene, the minister of Defence, gets 5.7 points, which is equal with Viktor Uspaskich, currently a member of European Parliament and the leader of Labour party.

Prime minister Andrius Kubilius is among politicians of the worst performance, collecting only 3.4 points out of 10, while former Seimas speaker and the leader of Rising Nation party Arunas Valinskas gets 3.8. Culture minister Remigijus Vilkaitis receives 3.3 points, the leader of Polish Electoral Action Voldemar Tomasevski – 3.8 points, and the mayor of Vilnius Vilius Navickas – 3.9 points.

The same rating system helped evaluate the performance of the ministries: Foreign Affairs, National Defence, and Communications ministries received the best ratings of 6.1, 6.0, and 5.9 points respectively. The worst performing ministries, according to the interviewees, are Energy ministry (3.7), Health ministry (4.0), ministry of Justice (4.2), and the ministry of Social Security and Labour (4.2).

The president’s office performed the best out of 13 state institutions, while the Seimas was evaluated as the worst. People have also lost trust in Prosecutor’s Office, courts, and National Social Insurance institution.

1006 respondents were interviewed on April 13-21 by Rinkos Tyrimu Centras and Norstat at the request of Alfa.lt news portal and Lietuvos Zinios daily.

Please refer to Alfa.lt and Lietuvos Zinios when citing any figure or results from this survey.

The country’s ombudsman for the protection of children has been let go after the Seimas voted not to reinstate her at the end of her five-year tenure.

Rimante Salaseviciute, who was head of the ombudsman for the protection of children was stood down on Tuesday. She was criticized by parliamentarians for spending more time protecting her position than the children of Lithuania, a claim she denies.

One of her critics, Seimas speaker Irena Degutiene, seems to have had a change of heart in the last year. Since she came into office the Drasius Kedys saga unfolded where a man and a woman who allegedly abused a child were shot dead. Kedys, who is the key suspect in the case, has disappeared off the map.

The killings prompted politicians to start pointing fingers and the country’s prosecutor general stepped down as a result. Degutiene accused the former ombudsman of not doing all she could in the situation.

Before the Kedys incident however, Degutiene was a fan of Salaseviciute’s work, she said.

“Sincerely speaking, I am not convinced by the speaker of the parliament that her words are really her own opinion. I think I have the basis to say so. Last year, even from the current speaker I had the pleasure to hear very positive comments about the opinion of my office. That is why today I am not convinced that I was wrong as ombudsman. This is my personal opinion,” Salaseviciute told journalists at the Seimas.

Some 73 parliamentarians voted to fire Salaseviciute and one voted against, while 23 abstained.

Last year in an interview with the newspaper Respublika, Salaseviciute said she had “no doubt that a paedophile network is operating in Lithuania.”