Aušrinė Armonaitė: Šimašius would be a great president

Answering the question of whether his political partner Vilnius Mayor Remigijus Šimašius will run for president during 2024. elections, Armonaitė no longer leaves room for imagination:

“It just caught our eye then. I think it is time for Lithuania to elect a liberal president who has demonstrated his ability in crisis situations.”

– Why did you organize a party that would divide the votes of the liberal voters?

– We have seen that many liberal-minded people are not represented. And the fact that the Freedom Party has joined more than 3,000 members in a few months who have not previously been involved in political parties, I think, shows this.

The Liberal Movement and previous parties that considered themselves liberals, of course, have tried to represent a liberal-minded electorate. But later it became clear that there were themes that were “taboo” for them. It turned out that certain narrow interests were more important than a coherent liberal agenda.

And now we can see that there are hardly any liberal-minded people in Parliament. Even when it comes to lump sums, no one votes against, they don’t express an alternative opinion. The same applies to human rights issues.

The fact that 3,000 members and almost as many friends of the party have come together in a relatively short time has shown that this is relevant and there are many people who want to change the history of liberal politics from a new page.

– But won’t those liberal-minded voters cry with tears of blood when the Freedom Party does not join the Seimas because it lacks the one or two percent that the Liberal Movement will take?

– [Piliečiai] You will have more options. If a person is in favor of a new creative, free and responsible generation, raised in Lithuania, that the rights of all people are respected, and that the initiatives or fines are not suppressed by prohibitions and bureaucratic fines, they can choose the Party of freedom.

– Why, in your opinion, does the Liberal Movement (LS) not represent liberal-minded people? After all, LS also defends human rights, represents economic liberalism.

– I was a member of the Liberal Movement for several years. I worked hard to get LS to represent the liberal voters. But then we liberals feel like a minority in that party. Now I no longer want to navigate the past, talk about others. I wish you good luck and we are on our way.

– What are your main differences with LS?

– When we formed the Freedom Party, we asked our members what they think should be the priorities for this party in political terms. Around 600 people participated in the survey. The responses show that priority does not. 1 – education. Second and third place were shared by the economy and human rights. Next – health, social affairs.

We were also open in our development, not top-down priorities: our members set certain guidelines.

I don’t want to talk much about our political competitors, let them talk about themselves. But what I’ve been seeing for his work in parliament for many years is helping peasants adopt their budgets, participating in various behind-the-scenes deals, publicly declaring that they are in opposition, but de facto with the help of Ramūnas Karbauskis and Saulius Skvernelis. I would not say anything good.

– Perhaps after the Seimas elections the LS can participate in the formation of a ruling coalition with “peasants”? Is that unrealistic?

– I think it’s completely real.

– You say education is a priority for Freedom Party. Next – economy, business. Representatives of partner business structures have a fairly specific approach to higher education: They keep repeating that universities need to prepare students for the job market. Do you agree that the university should become an introduction to the labor market, training those professionals whose need is mentioned, for example, the Confederation of Industrialists?

– If we imagine the higher education system as a triangle, in which the majority consists of vocational education and only the upper part – university education, then in Lithuania that triangle is inverted: we have a very small part of vocational education and a large number of higher education diplomas. Everyone – with higher education.

After all, vocational schools can prepare the job market by developing the skills they need, for example, industrial companies. The university, in turn, offers a universal education.

I look with suspicion not only at phrases like “prepared for the needs of the job market” but also at the even more common concept of “public procurement”. Who knows what that state order is? Karbauskis? Agnė Širinskienė? Skvernelis? Algirdas Monkevičius? No one knows what a state order is.

I am in favor of higher education institutions operating autonomously and that people can acquire the skills they want in them and that nobody makes any requests.

– The second priority you mentioned is the economy. Will the Freedom Party, of course, propose tax cuts, and therefore put even more pressure on the public sector?

– It should be noted that for anyone creating a job for themselves and for others, it is important that the tax burden is predictable and adequate. In today’s world, no one speaks against any tax anymore. It is important to be able to predict that personal income tax (PIT) or income tax will not change every six months.

Another thing is the public services approach: can they be used remotely? Do they come and punish instead of consulting?

During the pandemic, we saw that some measures can work very well, such as tax deferrals, and some can be terrible. I had to communicate with small catering establishments. They try to meet the requirements, but sometimes it’s hard to do it, and the inspectors come and cling to everything.

A rational common sense approach has recently been forgotten for one person creating a job for himself and another.

– This is one of the key objectives: red tape?

– Debureaucratization, deregulation. Of course, everyone would like to have more money in their wallet instead of giving it away in the form of taxes. However, I cannot say that any tax should be reduced or increased, that would be populism. One should look at the whole.

Regarding taxes, I would like to see Lithuania see that our policies support jobs, not subsistence. [Šios alternatyvos] It was also very good to see during the pandemic. Suppose a reduction in the GPM would support jobs, and various VAT incentives would be a saturation.

You should look at the whole, but, as Ronald Reagan said, the best social program is work. I think everyone would like to have a regular activity for which they earn an income.

– After the elections, do you probably not plan to have your own prime minister or finance minister?

– We look at everything seriously. We believe that there are at least 100,000 people in Lithuania. people (there are, of course, many more) who defend ideas similar to ours. I hope your support. And then we will put our program on the table and see if it contributes to the executive.

– Of the main parliamentary parties, is your potential partner only the National Union?

– It has become so traditional in Lithuania that unions are often implemented by conservatives and liberals after the elections. In today’s political arena, I do not want to praise or belittle any party. Probably hard to imagine [sąjungą] with the “peasants”, but if there is a change of president, then never say never.

– And who could that new president be?

– I do not know. It is your business.

– What else could there be in your hypothetical coalition with the National Union?

– I think we should form coalitions after the elections, not now. I will not engage in speculation. And what else would I like to emphasize: when the politicians are interviewed, they are very happy to answer in political terms and talk about other political parties, what they think about the socdemas or the conservatives. Let’s leave that to the political scientists. I am a politician and I let political scientists consider who, what and with whom they will conclude.

– Will Remigijus Šimašius run for president in 2024?

– Everything will depend on Remigijus Šimašius. During the pandemic, we saw his strong leadership, quite effective crisis management (both in terms of health and economy) and the only alternative vision to Aurelius Veryga’s work.

I think Šimašius has shown that in times of crisis you can concentrate and communicate well with people. After all, we need politicians in the first place for that. Otherwise, bureaucrats could do everything.

Shimashi would be a great president. I think it is time for Lithuania to choose a liberal president who has demonstrated his ability in crisis situations.

– You said that the third priority of your party is human rights. What’s wrong with this Are we a country that has great human rights problems?

– It is obvious that in the last three and a half years Lithuania has suffered many attacks against fundamental human rights. For example, against freedom of expression. This government’s relationship with the media is not the most democratic: it shamefully erased records, consultations, statements about how journalists should or should not enter parliament, and so on.

All of this, I think, is important to bear. Let’s also look at the judiciary and the rule of law. Forced labor was legalized in the Constitutional Court because three judges who had to finish their mandate three months ago were not replaced. Today, we hear that there are Seimas members who can be appointed to those positions.

The echoes of disrespect for fundamental human rights by the governments of the Visegrad countries can be heard in Lithuania.

Freedom Party is bold and doesn’t just talk about these things. We are talking about the rights of various minorities: LGBT equality; women’s rights (although women are not a minority); major problems for ethnic communities that are not resolved by parties of ethnic communities; The rights of people with disabilities.

– You say that the current government restricts freedom of expression by preventing journalists from entering Seimas. However, the most obvious attempt to annoy journalists in the Seimas took place just as the Liberals were in power, during 2008-2012. I finish office. So the liberals did not defend freedom of expression, and now they will?

– yeah Because, other times, other people, another organization. Overall, I have no idea how the question might arise as to whether the media should have access to decision-making facilities that are relevant to all people. This is incomprehensible. I wish we never had such a debate.

– Are minorities being abused in Lithuania so much that a special party is needed to protect them?

– We not only need a party, but also solutions. We would like that we are not the only ones in the political field who are talking about this. Because if we are alone, there will be no changes.

We can be the ones to come up with bold ideas, bring people together and show that it’s important. We will show the entire political arena that Lithuania is no longer a closed, complex and conservative state. Sitting in the Seimas, I sometimes think that some of my colleagues imagine Lithuania this way. After all, Lithuania is completely different: having seen the world, educated and wanting nothing more from politicians, only clear rules.

– Your opponents say that the Lithuanian language is being used in Lithuania today. Disagree?

– I disagree.

– Why?

– And why is he swimming?

– The same can be said of minorities. Anie is afraid of the Lithuanian language, you are afraid of minorities. And in Lithuania, neither the Lithuanian language nor minorities are spoken.

– There are only facts, and both.

– What facts?

– Integration of the disabled in the labor market. Would you like to make crafts after our conversation?

– I probably wouldn’t pay and I don’t know if I would.

– You don’t necessarily want to. But for some reason, everyone imagines that people with disabilities can only make crafts.

– You’re kidding: certainly not everyone imagines it.

– No, not all – I am talking about the current political situation. Or here, let’s say, the LGBT problem. Everyone talks about emigration, and I agree that economic emigration is the main cause. And yet how many people left because they couldn’t live family life in Lithuania? Much.

There are no longer many countries in the EU that do not have an association law. There may only be five or six left, and Lithuania is one of them. These are the facts. And as for swimming in the Lithuanian language, don’t we use it in public space? Are we not at his school?

– Inscriptions in public spaces, not in Lithuanian; official documents: in an unofficial language. Records of the anti-racism protest at the march in which he participated were also not Lithuanian. Repeating your words is “just the facts”.

– We live in a global world, so I don’t see anything wrong with that. I am glad that people know both Lithuanian and other languages, because, by the way, it has been found that those who know more languages ​​also know their mother tongue better.

– They will tell you that no one forces sexual minorities in Lithuania to live as the majority do.

– Those who do not see a problem in it usually do not vote for us. We, we see, and those who see will vote for us.