Press release, 10 March 2013
Colleagues,
I am pleased to congratulate you on the beginning of the second (spring) session of the Seimas. The spring session will inevitably be lengthier due to the launch of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. However, I hope that the longer duration of the parliamentary session will not serve as an incentive for registering and adopting more legislation than ever before. It is the Government that should be the main initiator of draft legislation for the Seimas, as the legislative body, to adopt. I hope that individual MPs will not surpass the Government by the number of draft legislation they table.
The analysis of the work done during several past legislative periods of the Seimas demonstrates that every successive legislative period is marked by an increasing number of adopted legal acts, but their abundance does not guarantee good quality. Clearly, MPs are trying to draft and register as many legislative proposals as possible, as this determines their higher activity ratings. The number of speeches, remarks and motions also improves these indicators. The media constantly compares these data, providing coverage on the most active and passive MPs, praising those who take every occasion to deliver speeches and telling off and criticising the colleagues who never do. As an MP in my third term of office, I can say with all seriousness that these indicators are by far not the most important ones for proper representation of the nations interests in the Seimas.
Please be reminded that the Seimas is not only a legislative body. It is first and foremost the representation of the people. I would encourage us all to pay more attention to the quality rather than quantity of adopted legislation. Provided every piece of legislation passed by the Seimas is discussed in public widely enough beforehand, social organizations and stakeholders will no longer compare the legislative process to the business of production of laws and no longer will unconstitutional legal acts or acts of questionable necessity be adopted.
Let us all focus on the people in our country, be more open and understanding of the public concerns and problems of every citizen, and facilitate better and faster problem-solving. May our work be guided by the interests of our country and its people, rather than narrow and sometimes dubious interests.
Rimas Rudaitis, Public Relations Unit, tel: +370 5 239 6132, e-mail: [email protected]
