Mykolas Majauskas, Chairman of the Seimas Committee on Budget and Finance (BFK), announced on December 6 that he was stepping down from office after the no-confidence motion against him at the Lithuanian parliament.
Over fifty MPs turned up for the secret ballot vote initiated by the opposition, while at least 71 votes were required to pass a no-confidence resolution.
No MPs of the ruling coalition’s Homeland Union, the Liberal Movement and the Freedom Party were present at the vote.
The opposition motion was signed by a group of over 30 opposition MPs. However, Agne Sirinskiene, the initiator of the resolution, said that its real aim was to see, through a secret ballot, how many MPs support Majauskas.
However, Majauskas announced after the vote his decision to step down as BFK chairman.
“Unfortunately, looking at today’s vote, it’s clear that the ruling coalition doesn’t support my work as BFK chairman. Therefore, after assessing the results of the vote and after careful consideration, I’ve decided to resign as chairman,” he said in a comment sent to BNS.
Last week, Majauskas was expelled from the conservative Homeland Union after he voted in favour of keeping the reduced 9% VAT rate for the food servicing industry in place throughout 2023 rather than until July, as proposed by the government.
The Homeland Union has said it will seek to remove Majauskas from his position as BFK chairman for defying party discipline and tabling budget proposals that were not approved by the Cabinet. (LRT/Business World Magazine)