Political scientists: the president’s decision is safe and will not anger him with the rulers

Back this week 15 minutes Sources claimed that G. Nausėda hinted to Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonyte that she would not appoint ministers to K. Adomaitis and Arūnas Dulkis, who were appointed to the Ministers of Health. However, the president changed his mind on the latter.

As G. Nausėda herself explained, she changed her mind because I. Šimonytė took personal responsibility for A. Dulkis.

“I really don’t want to fail and I would be wrong, I wish A. Dulkis the best of luck.” smiling at a press conference on Friday, the president said.

The president did not hide his doubts about the ability of Dainius Kreivis to occupy the position of energy minister without confusing public and private interests, but the Head of State gave the candidate a credit of confidence.

I did not want to encourage talking about personalities.

Virginija Būdienė, director of the Vilnius Institute for Political Analysis, said that the decision to appoint A. Dulkis was what surprised me the most. According to the political scientist, the president has made it clear that he appoints a health minister only because he does not want to be charged based solely on his personal sympathies.

“The president said that he wanted to show that there were no prejudices. There is no reason to appoint a minister if the president had actually told Prime Minister I. Šimonyte that the candidacy was doubtful,” said the political scientist.

The president said he wanted to show that there were no prejudices.

According to the political scientist, the detail that the president spoke only about the formation of the government was also a bit strange. He also pointed out that G. Nausėda will not sign a decree with a non-exhaustive list of ministers on Friday and will wait for the deadline to do so, but will probably appoint all ministers at once.

“I think he just agreed with the prime minister on that one time,” he said.

Valdas Kopūstas / Photo of 15min / Political scientist Virginija Būdienė

He rejected the ones that were easy to reject, but okay?

And are the reasons why K. Adomaitis and D. Miniataitė were rejected convincing? After all, I. Šimonytė was also going to take personal responsibility for them, so why is this an argument in the case of A. Dulkis and not in the case of K. Adomaitis and D. Miniataitė?

In the opinion of Professor Šarūnas Liekis of Vytautas Magnus University, not much: “Such arguments could be made, probably 75 percent. of all the ministers, because only maybe three ministers are stronger: education, national defense and foreign affairs, and everyone else is very skeptical. “

Photo by Sigismund Gedvila / 15min / Šarūnas Liekis

According to Š.Liekis, therefore, it is not clear why two candidates and precisely these, and not others, were rejected.

It is even convenient to have a vulnerable cabinet, given the ideological contradictions between the presidency and the government.

“It just came to our attention then. What standards apply to people who get to work in the highest positions. If some are criticized for lack of transparency, unethical behavior, and we always have people who have committed obvious violations but continue working in the top positions. Oh, unfortunately, others can be eliminated. Obviously, the president has few options here. In the time of D. Grybauskaitė, the candidacies were quietly coordinated, and here the uncoordinated list was brought to the table ” said the political scientist.

According to Š.Liekis, the chosen solution is safe in the sense that the appointed ministers can be criticized later.

“Having a vulnerable cabinet is even convenient, given the ideological contradictions between the presidency and the government,” he said.

G. Nausėda assessed the need for peace with the rulers

Kęstutis Girnius, Professor, Institute of International Relations and Political Science, Vilnius University 15 minutes He said the president’s decision to reject the two candidates shows that he was choosing the path of peace.

“A great confrontation was expected, and a storm was received on the glass. Two candidates were rejected: one rejection and expected, only rejection from D. Miniataitė was not expected, but offered at the last minute, possible to reject at the last minute, apparently. She is not a member of the party, no one will cry because she has not been approved. A confrontation was expected, but G. Nausėda behaves quite gently, “he said.

Photo by Lukas Balandis / 15min / 15min in the studio – Rima Urbonaitė and Kęstutis Girnius

According to him, there was the impression that a conflict was ripening, there was talk of a confrontation and it was considered whether the president would not exceed his powers, but all this was only in words, because nothing like that had happened.

A great showdown was expected, and a storm was received on the glass.

“The fight was expected, but it ended very politely. I think that G. Nausėda is a peaceful person, he wants to act in domestic politics, the welfare state is important to him, and the president can act in domestic politics only if he has the support of the ruling majority. If this is not the case, their proposals are rejected, the veto is rejected. If I was going to go the way of confrontation, I would have to bury the vision of the welfare state. I think this was determined by the decisions, not for secondary goals, for example, to show that he is a strong, strict and relentless second incarnation of D. Grybauskaitė ”, said K. Girnius.

“The Freedom Party can only be glad that E. Dobrovolska did not reject, the Liberal Movement and the Conservatives did not suffer at all, because only D. Miniataitė, who is not a member of the party, was rejected,” he summarized.