Future Prime Minister visited G. Nausėda, responsibility for COVID-19 management will not be shared with Minister

I.Šimonytė called the meeting with President Gitanas Nausėda at work.

“We discussed the situation, I reported on the progress of the coalition agreement negotiations, we discussed the coronavirus issues a bit, that’s probably all,” the future prime minister told reporters.

He denied discussing the composition of the future Cabinet with the head of the country.

Photo by Lukas Balandus / 15min / Ingrida Šimonytė

Of course, it is polite to listen to the opinions that may be given on one or another candidacy for ministers, but so far we have not talked about the nominations. We talked about the general situation in the negotiations and what the process could look like next, ”said I. Šimonytė.

It is true that the names of some people were supposedly named during the meeting.

“The surnames are named all the time when talking about current affairs <...>. Some surnames were named, but they were not named as agreed or proposed candidates for ministers because, as you know, we have not yet completed the negotiations on the works, ”said I. Šimonytė.

The coalition treaty, he said, is still being negotiated with the Freedom Party and the Liberal Movement, the parties have submitted comments.

I. Šimonytė hoped that the negotiations would not last long, and by November 13, the first session of the new Seimas, the preliminary composition of the future Cabinet of Ministers would be clear.

I think the problem is two centers of power

The President recently announced the establishment of a Council of Health Experts under the Chairmanship, which should provide findings on the governance of COVID-19 to current and future governments. The COVID-19 Governance Policy Task Force has been previously briefed by emerging and future governments.

I.Šimonytė stated that a meeting with Health Minister Aurelijus Veryga is also scheduled on Thursday.

Tomorrow, Minister A.Veryga will be in our faction.

“Tomorrow, Minister Veryga will be in our faction,” he said.

According to I. Šimonytė, the Prime Minister should take full responsibility for the management of COVID-19 after taking office.

“However, the Prime Minister should take over the management of this situation, because now one of the biggest problems is that there are two centers of power: there is a Minister of Health, there is a Prime Minister, sometimes one of them is a a good cop, sometimes a bad one. “

Sometimes information comes from two sources in different ways: I don’t think it builds trust in society and that’s not good in a situation like this. The center must be clear, “he said.

A team of scientists gathered under the Presidency, according to the candidate for prime minister, will be able to pass to the future Government.

“Without a doubt, that initial idea is that the people who now may be helping the President could also help the Government. The more so since some of them and the current ones helped the Government, the only question was whether they had been heard all the time” he commented.

Press conference:

Earlier, immediately after the Seimas elections, the TS-LKD candidate for prime minister discussed the vision of the welfare state with G. Nausėda. Tuomet she argued that there were no fundamental contradictions between the perceptions of what they were.