Lithuanian MPs agree to reconsider state recognition for neo-pagans

VILNIUS –  The Lithuanian parliament on Tuesday agreed to return to the issue of granting state recognition to Romuva, a religious association that says it practices an ancient Baltic pagan faith.

Tomas Vytautas Raskevicius, chairman of the Seimas Committee on Human Rights, tabled two draft resolutions, one granting Romuva the status of a state‑recognized religious association and the other denying that status. 

The resolution granting recognition passed its first reading in the parliament in a vote of 43 to 21 with 11 abstentions. 

The resolution denying recognition did not receive enough support to continue the legislative process, with 30 votes in favor, 21 against, and 22 abstentions.

The Committee on Human Rights is scheduled to consider the issue in late November, meaning that it will be dealt with by newly elected parliamentarians.

According to Raskevicius, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) recently forwarded a petition to the government, in which Romuva complains, for the second time, that the parliament's decision not to grant it state recognition violates its rights.

"The government will have to give its response regarding its failure to make a decision on Romuva, and I'm sure that it would be easier for the Justice Ministry to find additional arguments if the Seimas began debates on both granting and denying recognition," the committee chairman told the parliament.

In September 2023, the Seimas rejected a proposal to grant Romuva state recognition, but declined to consider an alternative draft resolution that would have formally denied that status.

According to Raskevicius, there are no legal obstacles to recognizing Romuva, which meets the criteria set by law and has a favorable interpretation from the ECHR.

This year, the ancient Baltic religious association turned to the ECHR for the second time, expressing concern about the parliament's failure to respond to the court's previous interpretations, and the denial of recognition.

In 2021, the ECHR ruled that the parliament's refusal to grant Romuva state recognition violated certain provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The court then concluded that "the State authorities did not provide a reasonable and objective justification for treating the applicant association differently from other religious associations that had been in a relevantly similar situation, and the members of the Seimas who voted against the granting of State recognition did not remain neutral and impartial in exercising their regulatory powers".

After the Seimas denied state recognition to Romuva following the ECHR ruling, Inija Trinkuniene said that Romuva could not appeal the parliament's decisions in Lithuanian courts, because MPs did not provide the grounds and motives for the non-recognition of the association, leaving it in a legal limbo.  

Romuva first sought state recognition from the parliament in 2017. After failing to obtain that status, the association appealed to the ECHR in 2019.

With state recognition, Romuva would be entitled to a land tax exemption, its priests would be covered by social insurance, and its marriages would be treated the same as those conducted in civil registration offices.

Some 5,100 people identified themselves as belonging to the old Baltic faith in the 2011, up from 1,200 in the 2001 census.