This post continues a theme that started last week, namely vetoes by relatively weak presidents. Last week, I posted about Bulgaria and Slovakia. Now, it is the turn of Lithuania.

In June, President Dalia Grybauskaitė delivered a State of the Nation speech to the Lithuanian parliament. The address is available in English here. In the speech, she notes that she vetoed 12 laws passed by parliament in the previous year. She states that they included the Law on Land, the Law on Land Reform, and the Law on Forests. She also vetoed the Citizenship Law and a law that lowered the tax on alcohol. This seems to me like a very high figure. I do not have figures for earlier years, but certainly President Grybauskaitė is being quite active.

In addition, it seems that she is not only active in vetoing legislation, she is also active in proposing amendments. The Lithuania Tribune is reporting that she is currently threatening to veto the budget. However, she has proposed amendments to the Heat Sector and Competition bill and is exhorting parliament to pass them, with the implicit threat that she will veto the bill if it does not.

Technically, President Grybauskaitė is non-partisan. Her activity is reminiscent of a president during a period cohabitation.