Landsbergis: Direct assistance to Druskininkai residents working in a licensed sanatorium is being considered

The bank froze the sanatorium’s accounts this month when the EU imposed sanctions on the sanitarium’s shareholder, the Central Economic Board of the Belarusian presidential administration.

Landsbergis said he could not answer whether the potential impact on the sanitarium had been assessed before a decision on sanctions was made.

According to him, it is currently not possible to pay the downtime of several hundred employees of the sanatorium, so the participation of the Employment Service in the process is being considered. A total of 393 people work in the sanatorium, about 350 of them are Lithuanian citizens.

– When coordinating the EU sanctions, has the Lithuanian Government, the diplomatic service, evaluated the prospect of the accounts of this sanatorium being frozen?

– I believe that the adoption of any sanction, especially against legal persons, means that the accounts will be frozen and that this will have consequences.

– But my specific question is: when the sanctions were approved, was it known that the accounts of the sanatorium in Belarus, where 350 Lithuanians work, would be frozen?

– In particular, I cannot answer whether this question was dealt with precisely in the sanatorium, because the administration of the President of Belarus was included in the description of the sanctions.

– Did Lithuania have to assess the fact that 350 citizens can lose income before deciding on sanctions?

– First of all, we have to answer ourselves: if Lithuania defends democratic processes in nations that fight for democracy, then one of the instruments of support are sanctions, they will have consequences, we must evaluate, of course, they must be consider possible support mechanisms. But you need to understand what fighting is for.

Specifically in this case, it is clear that part of the income received by the employees of this sanatorium was allocated by the Government of Lithuania. The question is whether, without the support of the Government, this sanatorium would have existed. Many questions arise about what the previous government did to support such facilities during the protests. Now it is said that there may be ways to help such people not by allocating that money to a sanatorium belonging to the Lukashenko administration, but by helping them through the structures available to our state.

– What Lithuanian state support was provided to the Belarusian sanatorium?

– To my knowledge, the downtime associated with the epidemic situation.

– What other support mechanism could exist to avoid downtime through this public body?

– The inactivity time as an instrument cannot pass otherwise than through the employing institution. People could get help through the Employment Service, for example. Now, together with other ministries, we are looking for ways to help people not to return that money to an authorized institution.

– Is the option of not paying normal downtime but paying money in another way through the Employment Service being considered?

– This is just my consideration, so far no decisions have been made, you have to talk to the people, more state institutions are involved in the process. Today, the mechanism, which has been in operation since March, no longer makes sense because the accounts are frozen. Therefore, we must find another way to temporarily help these people until they find a job in another institution.

– Was it not a mistake that the aid mechanism did not exist before the sanctions were adopted?

– I can not answer. I think this is a new process that is taking place in Lithuania. It seems that we have not had this type of sanction before. Second, there are probably a very limited number of such objects.

– Thanks for the answers.