In disagreement on representation in the EVS, a surprise awaits Nausėda: a law is being prepared in the Seimas

Matas Maldeikis, a member of the Lithuanian Christian National-Democratic Union (TS-LKD) faction, is preparing such a bill. According to the politician, they will strive for a wide circle of Seimas members to reach an agreement on the aforementioned issue.

“I want to sit down with the representatives of the different political groups, invite them, see their reactions and I just want to prepare a draft law on the regulation of who goes to EVS. I think that will be the logical way to solve this problem in this case. ” Delphi Mr Maldeikis said.

According to him, after presenting the project to the Seimas, the Constitutional Court (CC) would subsequently apply it to clarify whether said law would not be in conflict with the Constitution.

“It has been established in other countries as a regulatory principle, in this case Finland, and I thought it would be a good way. (…) I imagine that Parliament will take the initiative and make a decision. From what I have consulted with the competent lawyers in this field, they say that this can be resolved through regulation, through a law that regulates all these issues, ”said the member of Seimas.

Mr. Maldeikis also emphasized that some of the former prime ministers had also said that this problem should be solved and did not hide their hope of receiving strong support in the Seimas.

“It is very important to me that it is not a representative of one or two political forces – it should be so common, a large number of members of the Seimas (draft – aut.p.). Of course, not all will vote together, but that one A large part of the different factions would vote, whether it be a position or the opposition, because it is in the common interest ”, emphasized the parliamentarian.

According to him, it is necessary to show that “it is not a whim of a force, a member of the Seimas or personal decisions of one’s own affairs.”

“I want a common parliamentary position on this, as far as possible,” Maldeikis said.

At the same time, the politician pointed out that said law would also serve the public; it would be explained that the issues adopted by the EU institutions are not simply declarative and have a significant impact on the internal politics of the country.

As a result, according to Maldeikis, the EVS should normally be assisted by the Prime Minister, who could be replaced by the President by consensus in some meetings.

“We are sending a message about how we understand the EU itself, be it a foreign policy or a continuation of domestic policy.” To finally realize that we are in the EU, it is part of our legal system and it is an internal policy. “Bringing the EU a little bit into our daily life, to make it more relevant to us, to understand that the decisions that are made there have a very strong impact on our daily life,” Maldeikis said.

According to him, he would plan to prepare such a law and present it to the Seimas in the spring session.

The initiative was appreciated by a lawyer: it is a civilized way of approaching the problem

In turn, commenting on such an initiative by M. Maldeikis, Professor of Association at Vilnius University, lawyer dr. Algimantas Šindeikis pointed out that the Seimas can try to regulate the question of the representation of the EVT state by means of a legal act.

At the same time, however, he emphasized that in this case, as the author of the initiative M. Maldeikis plans, the Constitutional Court should also intervene.

“The Seimas may try to regulate through a legal act, but the question of compliance with that legal act with the Constitution will continue to arise, since the functions of the President and the Head of Government are provided for in the Constitution. In this case, given that raises the question of who should represent Lithuania in the EVS, and in the Seimas there are different opinions on this issue, he can address the CC and only after that appeal would it be definitely clear who has the competence. represent Lithuania in the EVS “, Delphi A. Shindekis said.

According to him, it is logical that this issue should be regulated by law in general.

“I believe that in principle it can be regulated, because we have signed the EU treaty, part of our Constitution is also a law on the membership of the Republic of Lithuania to the EU, but that law does not stipulate who represents Lithuania in The EU”. institutions: it only describes our obligations. In this case, if we do not have clarity and there is no verdict of the CC on this issue, then I believe that the law is the civilized way to regulate it, ”said the VU collaboration professor.

According to A. Šindeikis, the Constitution stipulates that the functions of executive politics are divided, so that, according to the lawyer, when the EVS decides exclusively on matters of relations with other states, the head of the country has competence to participate in the meetings of Council. .

However, the opposite is the case in matters relating to the internal policies of the Community.

“We understand that the EU is, in many cases, more of an economic union than a political one for us. Let’s look at the state budget: up to a third of our money in the national budget comes from EU support, and our commitments relate to cohesion funds, agricultural policy, now green policy, climate change. Basically, in many cases, it is an economic matter and it is an internal matter of the EU, the status of the EU as an international structure is a little different from the others: we are an internal part of the EU.

We are committed to complying with EU legislation, and if the EVS deals with economic issues, then there is no doubt that our Prime Minister has more power and opportunities to implement such a policy in this area, ”noted A Šindeikis.

According to him, it is possible to arrange for the president to attend certain EVS meetings and for the prime minister to attend certain meetings.

“Let’s just understand that the government is partisan and the president is elected by direct universal suffrage and cannot participate in the activities of political parties. This is a certain contradiction here, which will probably not be so easy to resolve,” said the lawyer. .

When asked if there was another way to resolve this legal uncertainty, Shindeikis replied that it could be a matter of political culture.

“The other way, if not by law, is not necessarily tradition, but political culture. If in politics it were possible for the president to agree with the head of government who would represent Lithuania specifically at the EVS meeting, if there was such a level of political culture in Lithuania, it would not need a law, but we understand that politics is not always there. determined by culture. Determined by other interests.

On the other hand, we must consider that issue pragmatically: look at the Constitution. “If the EVS deals exclusively with economic development, competition, green policy, agricultural and forestry policy, then the Prime Minister must attend those meetings, as he is responsible for the establishment and execution of the budget,” reiterated the lawyer .

After Ingrida Šimonyte took over as head of government and President G. Nausėda continued to attend all EVS meetings, the question of EVS party representation was raised again in public.

After Lithuania’s accession to the EU, both the Prime Minister and the President attended the summits for some time. It is true that during the presidency of Dalia Grybauskaitė, it was established that the head of the country attends EVS meetings.

The presidency assures that no clear arguments have been provided as to why the established tradition should be changed when the head of state attends EVS meetings.

For his part, Mr. Maldeikis made a public address to Mr. Nausėda, explaining his position:

In an interview with Delfi, G. Nausėda himself said that the representation of the State in the EVS is important to him and that the alternative method of representing the country could not be implemented.

At the time, Prime Minister I. Šimonytė stated that she did not demand changes, but acknowledged that on some issues her participation in EVS “would be more practical”. On the Wednesday after the Government meeting, he also assured that on Monday he spoke with G. Naus Nada on this issue and expressed his position.

“There may be several solutions here, there are countries where these problems have ended with some changes in the law. I don’t know if we should follow this path here, because no law establishes who represents Lithuania in the EVS”, said the Head of Government during the Press conference.

“It would be possible to return to such discussions, and if there is a desire to return to them on the part of the president, I cannot respond,” added I. Šimonytė.

Experts say that developing this issue and changing the established order could ignite a conflict between the rulers and the presidency.