Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda on Thursday issued a thinly veiled warning to the ruling coalition over its escalating pressure on public broadcaster LRT, insisting that any legal changes “must comply with the principles of political neutrality, responsibility and transparency”.
Speaking in Riga alongside his Latvian and Estonian counterparts, he stressed that Lithuania’s strong 14th-place ranking in the Global Media Freedom Index must not be put at risk.
His remarks follow days after he signed a decision of the Lithuanian parliament freezing LRT’s budget for 2026–2028 – a move he defended as necessary to reach 5.38% of GDP in defence spending and “tighten belts” across public institutions.
The call for neutrality comes after a turbulent month for the national broadcaster.
On 1 December, LRT journalists launched a week-long protest after the Seimas fast-tracked amendments tabled by the populist Nemunas Aušra party and backed by some Peasants and Greens MPs – that drastically lowered the threshold for dismissing the LRT director general.
Staff and media watchdogs denounced the bill as an attempt to bring the broadcaster under political control, in breach of EU media-freedom rules.
The controversy erupted after Nemunas Aušra, which joined the ruling coalition with 20 seats in November 2024, pushed through a resolution branding large parts of the Lithuanian media, including LRT, as “propaganda tools”.
The funding freeze and dismissal-law amendments are widely viewed as retaliation.
A major protest is planned on 9 December.