Political scientist Algis Krupavičius turned to politics: only “Lithuania – for all” can be a surprise of these elections

15 minutes spoke with A. Krupavičius about his decision to turn to politics, secrets and plans for “Lithuania – for all”.

– Mr Krupavi, why was this party, did you become a member of it and how did you decide to take such a step in your life in general?

– Before each election of the Seimas, I have proposals to enter politics. Not parties, but in a wide variety of audiences, you still meet people, there are public lectures, and that question often resonates why you don’t go into politics even though you explain and comment on it. You would go into politics, then you could do and change, criticize less, but achieve results. That is one thing.

The second thing is that I don’t really get involved in party politics. Is that the list “Lithuania – for all” is basically unbiased. Most of the participants on the list do not belong to any political party. Yes, there is another party that used to belong to the other, there is another that belongs to the party “Lithuania – all”, but most of them are non-partisan. This circumstance is also important to me.

The “Lithuania – for all” list is basically non-partisan.

Third, programmatically, the party focuses on uniting and concentrating society. On the other hand, he criticizes the current situation and the situation in Lithuania. That opinion is based on the entire history of Lithuania after the restoration of independence. Lithuania is a semi-realized state. On the one hand, we are the EU, NATO. Lithuania, as a state, is more secure than ever in a hundred years, but on the other hand, we have an economy that is not a social market economy, although at the dawn of independence, the promise of politicians was to follow this path. We still have a democracy with deficiencies, distrust of citizens in political institutions, parties, parliament, the judiciary. This shows that democracy in Lithuania is going through critical times.

– You diagnose problems, but how about this list, because you say that this is not a party in the true sense of the word, that it is – a meeting of non-partisan people, that is going to solve those problems? So far nothing has been known about this party.

– There really was very little to hear. However, first of all, in order to deal with something, we need to define the situation in which we find ourselves. The list of those problems is more than long. More to do are those essential milestones. This is social Lithuania.

– Is this the left party?

– In economic terms, it will be more to the left of the center. Yes. The economic policy declares the objective of creating a social market economy with all the essential elements, including a progressive tax system. Progressive taxes should be considered an important element in the entire tax system. The political proposal from which to continue the debate in this area is the German system, where up to 9 thousand. Generally, the income is tax-free and the tax rate keeps increasing up to 45%. There are many examples and they can be discussed in detail. It is the discussions of experts, politicians and the public that is needed. So far, the public has been positive about progressive taxes in every poll.

I think if anyone is surprised at this choice, only this list can do it.

Another key focus in the economy is to face small and medium-sized businesses. In Lithuania, these companies account for about 99 percent. of all companies. Another thing is that it generates more than 70 percent. jobs and more than 70%. GDP, but it is only remembered before the regular elections of the Seimas, and then everything is put away in a drawer.

Another critical point where fundamental change is needed is regional policy. Despite the adoption of the regional policy strategy, it is lifeless, generally bankrupt, although before the 2016 elections, the current government said it would reactivate regional policy, none of that happened. Regional exclusion is clearly too great and there are no ways to address it. The message to our society is that not only Vilnius deserves to live well, but all of Lithuania deserves to live well. Regional policy needs to be restructured to make it work. Especially because there will be opportunities, because in the new financial perspective, Lithuania will have significant support from the EU.

– Still, how do you imagine Janutienė, basketball players, you, Tomas Pačės, can agree on that? Who is the audience here and how did you, a political scientist, end up in such an undertaking?

– I was persuaded for a long time.

– T. Patches persuaded?

– Not only. This was followed by some candidates because I finally decided to run in the elections and it was with this list. And persuaded very briefly, it lasted for months, there was no solution for a long time, but other candidates who came …

– Who drove it? Patches What else? Because it is not very clear who that party is.

– Now you need to look at the list of what it contains. In fact, the list includes people who have their experience in their professional activities: both medical, scientific and military. For example, there is Raimundas Matulis, former rector of the Lithuanian Military Academy, who recently completed his term.

– Who are the top five of this party? Maybe you can divulge it because it hasn’t been made public?

– The CEC promised to reveal the full list only one month before the elections, which would not be entirely correct.

– Will you keep voters by surprise until the last minute?

– Some. Let there be a surprise.

Let there be a surprise.

– Are your tactics such that voters only find out about you in the last few days?

– In general, we have strange traditions in Lithuania. Or the election campaign starts very early, but then there is a lot of discussion and debate about who, where and what will be assigned. Usually the whole discussion is not about what a party can offer, how to solve problems, but who is in what position and who is the leader of the electoral list, who is in second, third position and so on until the top ten. I would say that such discussion is flawed in essence. We should go back to the essence of democratic politics.

– All the more so that your program is nowhere to be found.

– Bus. I think it will be very soon. The announcement of the program should, I believe, be one of the key chords of the electoral campaign.

– How much would you predict, as a political scientist, for the seats of this party in the Seimas?

– Forecasts, especially when forecasting the most unsuccessful for the organization in which it participates. I think if anyone is surprised at this choice, only this list can do it. Just for diversity. Because in reality there are people who have done and demonstrated in their professional work that we can, we pay and we can do the opposite in politics.

– Well, in 2016, the “peasants” talked a lot about professionalism. There is nothing new here.

– We are talking about competence, not professionalism.

– We can call professionalism another word.

– Not quite. The “peasant” professional practice turned out to be a big soap bubble, and then when it came to looking for people, those searches didn’t happen. In general, there was no collective solution even when delegating people to ministerial positions. I think that path is flawed, decisions must be made differently. Politics is a collective action, and not a single leader or candidate for prime minister should choose what they feel comfortable with, who they would or would not want to work with due to personal circumstances. When we interpret professionalism in this way, a soap bubble comes out. After all, we have seen a four-year history that practically reverts to a partisan model of government. The government of the professionals stood by the promises of the election and acted only for a time with considerable problems.

We are talking about competence, not professionalism.

– And who is the candidate of “Lithuania – all” for prime minister?

– There would be at least some potential candidates.

– Which?

– Since we are not talking about posts yet, it is about the order of the list, this question is still very early, but it really is. One more thing that I look at critically when they say journalists, athletes here, what are they going to do?

– Maybe we shouldn’t call R. Janutienė a journalist?

– This is how you looked, but there are others who do not evoke such conflicting feelings. That is, if Virgilijus Alekna can be in politics, Sergejus Jovaiša can be in politics, why, for example, Valdemaras Chomičius or Rūtenis Paulauskas can’t? I would say that the Lithuanian parties have a serious illness, that they lack diversity, and that the leaders are very partisan about the electoral lists of their parties. Even when the form is semi-democratic, it becomes a managed democracy if the leader has the right to change positions.

– And who in this match decided the list of places?

– It was a collective decision.

– Did all the members of the list decide?

– Not quite. Not the entire list, certainly not, but the candidates that top that list. Let’s say this. His voice was primordial.

– And who are the possible partners of this political force?

– Since I said that the social economy is the most important policy for us, it is those parties that formulate similar objectives. These are your main partners.

– More to the left than to the right?

– Yes, more to the left and to the center.