EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Legislation, Lithuania, Railways, Transport

"It seems like we will have to rebuild it," Pranckietis told Ziniu Radijas news radio on Wednesday morning.

The parliamentary speaker said he had noted back in spring that rebuilding the railway stretch could be cheaper than paying a fine, however, "the train had already left the station and we already knew that we might be imposed the fine."

Pranckietis expressed doubt whether politicians could be made personally accountable for the decisions nearly a decade after the removal of the railway stretch.

On Monday, the European Commission on Monday slapped LG with a EUR 27.87-million fine for breaching the EU's competition rules, saying that the company "failed to show any objective justification" for the removal of the track to Renge, in Latvia.

Lithuania's Transport and Communications Minister Ricardas Degutis said Monday that rebuilding the stretch needed “further discussion.”

Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis and Transport and Communications Minister Rokas Masiulis said Lithuania's interests would be defended by legal instruments, with the decision on filing an appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union yet to be made.