7 out of 10 mayors, heads of municipal administration and deputy mayors publish their agendas. Every fifth mayor (13 out of 60) publishes a permanent work calendar, which makes it possible to see meetings from the beginning of their term. Two thirds of mayors (41 out of 60) publish only temporary agendas, while 6 mayors do not publish their meeting calendars at all.
The study conducted by Transparency International Lithuania is focused on a review of the official work calendars, personal websites and the website manosusitikimai.lt of mayors, deputies and heads of administration of all 60 of Lithuania’s municipalities.
Permanent agendas, which allow to see all meetings declared in the 2019-2023 term so far, are published by one out of seven deputy mayors and heads of municipal administration (19 out of 134). Half of all deputy mayors and heads of municipal administration (73 out of 134) publish temporary agendas which feature meetings only of the current day, week or month. A third of them (42 out of 134) do not publish their work calendars at all. In general, every fourth head of administration (51 out of 194) does not publish their agendas.
Overall, 1422 meetings with interest groups were declared by mayors, their deputies and heads of administration in their permanent agendas.
Most meetings with interest groups were declared by the mayor of Joniškis District Vitalijus Gailius (216 meetings), the mayor of Klaipėda Vytautas Grubliauskas (109 meetings), the mayor of Neringa Darius Jasaitis (102 meetings), the mayor of Vilnius Remigijus Šimašius (96 meetings) and the mayor of Alytus District Algirdas Vrubliauskas (84 meetings).
“Many municipalities still operate under conditions of occasional transparency. Gladly, we have significant examples by municipal leaders’ who are very accountable to the community for their work. I would very much like that even more heads of municipalities published their permanent detailed agendas making it easier to understand what happened a month or two ago. This is the beginning of a conversation about transparency.” – said Sergejus Muravojvas, CEO of Transparency International Lithuania.
Most meetings were held with business representatives (584 meetings), education, sport and science representatives (314 meetings), non-governmental organisations (NGO) and registered local communities (144 meetings).
No meetings with registered lobbyists were declared.
The review looked at how 194 mayors, mayors’ deputies and heads of administration published their agendas and how many meetings were declared between 19th March, 2019 and 17th March, 2020. Information was obtained from official working calendars, personal websites, and entries of meetings with interest groups made on the website manosusitikimai.lt.
A short summary of the findings can be found here (in English). More detailed information about the report can be found here (in Lithuanian).
More information:
Sergejus Muravjovas, sergejus@transparency.lt, +370 689 97579.
Note: The assessment of the agendas of the heads of Elektrėnai and Kazlų Rūda muncipalities has changed. Information on published agendas was revised on June 16 and July 1, 2020.