The Lithuanian parliament on Tuesday voted down a proposal to grant state recognition to Romuva, a religious association that says it practices an ancient Baltic pagan faith.
The proposal to grant recognition to Romuva failed to pass the second reading with 48 MPs voting in favour, 31 voting against and 30 abstaining, and was rejected in a further vote on whether to send the draft resolution for improvement.
Tomas Vytautas Raskevičius, chairman of the Seimas Committee on Human Rights, said he would table an alternative draft resolution during the Seimas’ evening session so that the parliament could formally refuse to grant this recognition.
“The law obliges the Seimas to make a decision one way or the other, either to recognise or not to recognise,” the Freedom Party’s MP told BNS.
“Since the Seimas rejected the resolution to recognise, we will submit a draft resolution to not recognise, and if the religious association does not agree with the Seimas’ decision, it will be able to appeal it,” he added.
The parliament several years ago failed to adopt a resolution to grant state recognition to Romuva. The association then took the matter to the European Court of Human Rights and won the case.
Further reading
Under the law, non-traditional religious associations can be recognised by the state as part of Lithuania’s historical, spiritual, and social heritage if they have public support and their teachings and rites do not contradict the law and morality.
State recognition means that the state supports the spiritual, cultural, and social heritage of religious associations.
A religious association may apply for state recognition no sooner than 25 years after its initial registration in Lithuania.
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