Renew Europe warns: political pressure on Lithuania’s public broadcaster puts democracy at risk
The European Parliament has adopted a resolution led by Renew Europe condemning attempts to undermine the independence of Lithuania’s public broadcaster, LRT, and calling on the European Commission to act to protect media freedom.
The resolution responds to a pattern of political pressure on LRT, including the freezing and reduction of its funding, legislative proposals to weaken safeguards for dismissing its Director General, and accelerated law-making procedures that bypass public scrutiny. These measures come despite an official national audit confirming that LRT has fulfilled its public service mission and managed public funds responsibly.
Renew Europe warns that the targeting of public service media is one of the earliest and most reliable indicators of democratic backsliding. Across Europe and beyond, political control over public broadcasters has repeatedly preceded the erosion of judicial independence, fair elections and the rule of law.
The resolution stresses that public service media are a cornerstone of democratic resilience, providing citizens with impartial information, pluralistic debate and investigative journalism free from political pressure. It recalls that the European Media Freedom Act sets binding safeguards against political interference in media governance and funding, and urges the Commission to assess whether recent developments in Lithuania breach EU law.
Renew Europe also expresses full solidarity with Lithuanian journalists and civil society, whose mass mobilisation in defence of LRT reflects broad public concern for democratic standards.
“Public broadcasters are part of Europe’s democratic infrastructure. When governments weaken their funding, rewrite the rules to remove independent leaders and normalise political pressure on journalists, they are not just interfering with one newsroom, they are damaging the foundations of democracy itself. The Lithuanian authorities must halt and reverse these politicised measures, and the European Commission must be ready to use every tool at its disposal, including infringement proceedings, to uphold the European Media Freedom Act and protect democratic standards across the Union.”
Dainius ŽalimasRenew Europe MEP, Lithuania, Laisvés Partija
"Through this resolution, the European Parliament has expressed its full solidarity with Lithuanian journalists, the public broadcaster LRT, and civil society actors who are defending media freedom. This support is vital today to ensure that Lithuania's public broadcaster remains independent and free from political influence, and that Lithuania does not follow in the footsteps of the Orbán and Fico governments by straying from the path of democracy."
Petras AuštrevičiusRenew Europe MEP, Lithuania, Liberalų Sąjūdis
"Media freedom is a core European value, and we must protect it. We have the tool - the European Media Freedom Act - which is fully applicable, we have now found the will to use it."
Hristo PetrovRenew Europe MEP, Bulgaria, We continue the change – Democratic Bulgaria