"If the process is taking place the way it is now, then we hope we'll have a working atmosphere in the parliament, and early general elections will not be needed," she told journalists.
In her words, Minister of Interior Affairs Raimundas Palaitis made the right decision to resign.
"I think the decision was right, and I am really glad that the president found the way to influence the interior affairs minister," Degutienė said.
"I think it’s certainly a step forward that might have been made earlier, i.e., last week. And we wouldn’t have needed to talk about all this for so long and we could have focused on more serious work. I do hope Mr. Palaitis will submit his resignation today, and that will be the first step towards the truth," the parliamentary speaker said.
Last week, when President Dalia Grybauskaitė rejected Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius' proposal to dismiss Palaitis, Degutienė said it would be hard for the parliament to work under such circumstances, and she proposed holding early general elections in the summer.
Soon afterwards, two MPs, Žilvinas Šilgalis and Agnė Zuokienė, registered a draft resolution on holding early general elections on 3 June. The draft resolution, however, was not included into the parliament's agenda.
