Lithuanian lawmakers voted to allow a cat to have a say (or maybe a meow) on whether the head of the national broadcaster can be dismissed.

The unusual situation arose as the country’s parliament (Seimas) pushes through a fast-track overhaul of rules governing public broadcaster LRT — a move designed to make it easier to dismiss its director-general.

The overhaul of the rules came in response to a recent audit that identified shortcomings at the broadcaster — even though it did not recommend changing the director-general or the rules for dismissing LRT’s leadership.

Critics of the proposed changes argue the reform is tailor-made to unseat the current LRT director-general, Monika Garbačiauskaitė-Budrienė.

Opposition lawmakers want to slow the process and have filed more than 100 amendments to that end. One amendment says the director general of LRT may be dismissed only if opposition lawmaker Agnė Širinskienė’s cat, Nuodėgulis — whose name means “charred coal” (and yes, the cat is black) — expresses no confidence in Garbačiauskaitė-Budrienė.

The parliament voted in favor of the entire package of amendments, including the cat one.

A final vote on the changes to the law governing the public broadcaster was expected on Thursday, but the chair of the parliament’s culture committee, which must review the amendments, is in the hospital. Speaker Juozas Olekas said the vote will probably be pushed to January.

President Gitanas Nausėda could decide to scrap the law change. Asked as he entered the European Council in Brussels whether he would do so, Nausėda mocked the entire situation. 

“Veto it with the cat, or adopt it with the cat? What are we even talking about? Are we discussing a serious draft law that officially reaches the presidency, or are we telling jokes?” he told Lithuanian reporters. 

A hybrid attack against ourselves

As tensions escalate, Nausėda warned that the catfight unfolding in the parliament was beginning to resemble a self-inflicted hybrid attack.

“Frankly, there is no need to send balloons [from Belarus] into Lithuania, because Lithuanians — Lithuania itself — are organizing a hybrid attack against themselves,” he said. 

“Our little boat in the geopolitical ocean is small enough already,” he added, warning lawmakers not to “rock it further.”

The president has suggested that the broadcaster’s governing council resign, and a new council be formed, a move backed by Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė, who told reporters at a press briefing in Vilnius that the situation in parliament “is absolutely unacceptable to me.”

In a petition presented to the LRT Council on Tuesday, more than 400 employees — around two-thirds of the workforce — called on the Council to step down, a move that would also lead to the director-general’s departure.

Meanwhile, public anger has spilled onto the streets. Several thousand people protested outside parliament on Dec. 16, and a crowd of more than 10,000 gathered on Dec. 17. More protests are planned.

Over 140,000 people have signed a petition against the reforms, making it the most widely supported online petition ever in a country of fewer than 3 million people.