Sees the need to change the current regulation of parliamentary funds
Andrius Mazuronis, chairman of the opposition Labour Party, says he does not see the point of parliamentary allowances. The politician, therefore, supports adding these funds to the salary of a Member of the Seimas.
„I don't see the point of these parliamentary expenses at all. 40% should be returned to the budget in the form of taxes, and the rest should be added to the salary, and many issues would be resolved. But I have been talking about this for six years, and nobody wanted to hear it,“ A. Mazuronis told Elta, who himself has been in the eye of the Skaidrinam initiative.
Rasa Budbergytė, an elder of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) in the Seimas, shares a similar position. She agrees that one of the possible ways forward is to abolish parliamentary allowances by adding this amount to the salary of a Member of the Seimas.
„One possibility is to do what we did with municipal councillors – to allocate a certain allowance from which a member of the Seimas could purchase working tools, such as computers, telephones, etc., on a non-accountable basis,“ said R. Budbergytė.
„But I would not say it should be a minimum amount – for example, EUR 100. We cannot do it so drastically,“ the Social Democrat added.
Another way could be to regulate the use of parliamentary funds more strictly.
Vytautas Mitalas, an elder of the Freedom Group in the Seimas, also stressed that the need to change the current procedure for parliamentary allowances is obvious. The politician makes no secret of his support for adding these funds to the salaries of Members of the Seimas.
„We need fewer rules, but clearer ones. (...) There have indeed been such initiatives, but the pull of the Seimas warehouse overcame the desire to go down this road. So, I don't know if it will work this time, too“, V. Mitalas told Elta.
„Or there should be even stricter regulation, putting on a shelf how much you can spend in each category,“ he mused.
E. Gentvilas does not support the initiative: the direct beneficiaries would be the members of the Seimas
For his part, Eugenijus Gentvilas, the elder of the Liberal Movement faction in the Seimas, says he does not favour the initiative to add parliamentary funds to MPs' salaries. According to him, the main problem with this proposal is that the actual beneficiaries would be the members of the Seimas.
„If we were talking about the same amount as is currently allocated, it would be much more expensive for the state because there would be all the overheads: taxes and contributions to Sodra. In this case, the real beneficiary is the Member of the Seimas, who pays even more contributions to Sodra and saves for his pension even more than his current salary,“ E. Gentvilas told Elta.
„Also, the Member of the Seimas would no longer be interested in buying flowers, sweets or books for his constituents, as this would already be allocated from his salary. (...) After all, no one will be able to demand that you have to spend this part of your salary,“ the politician emphasised.
The Liberal, therefore, proposes a better reduction in the parliamentary allowances currently allocated to Members of the Seimas.
„Every month, a Member of the Seimas receives 0.8 of their average salary (VDU) for parliamentary allowances. In Lithuania, the average wage proliferated as the minimum wage increased and the economy grew. The parliamentary allowances of the MPs also started to increase,“ he said, proposing that the Board of the Seimas review the amount of parliamentary allowances yearly.
„Because when these allowances are so high, it is like a snake in paradise tempting some people to use this money irrationally. So, let's not allow these funds to increase automatically; let's index them“, he added.
After the Skaidrinam initiative reached the Seimas, Andrius Tapinas, a public activist, made public information about the purchases made by some politicians with the funds allocated for their parliamentary activities – almost 20 members of the Seimas, at the end of their term of office, rushed to buy computer and telephone equipment and audio equipment. According to the journalist, the politicians grabbed the expensive computers and telephones as they approached the deadline for keeping the purchased items.
Some MPs have already reacted to Skaidrinam – Marius Matijošaitis, a freelancer, who received questions about his purchases, suspended his party membership and withdrew from the EP elections. Conservatives Kęstutis Masiulis and Arūnas Valinskas assured that they would return the parliamentary funds used by the Seimas Chancellery.
Even before the results of Skaidrinam were published, the Minister of Energy and Member of the Seimas, Dainius Kreivys, reacted to the investigation. Last week, the conservative returned all his expenses since 2021, as he had insured his car with parliamentary funds while using official transport.
Last spring, after A. Tapinas initiated an investigation into the use of funds by municipal politicians with initiative Skaidrinam, it led to a scandal about the possible abuse of office funds by politicians. Several municipalities came under the scrutiny of the law enforcement authorities.
