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This week, Matas Maldeikis, one of the most active members of the Conservative Group that supports the initiative to change the current representation of the EVS, sent a letter to the members of the Seimas European and Foreign Affairs Committees and, according to him, the results of the sociological study on the representation of EVS.
In a letter received by Elta, the politician argues that the results of his own initiative poll may be useful for future committee discussions on the issue, since a higher proportion of respondents are in favor of the president and prime minister being take turns at EVS. .
According to a poll conducted by the media planning agency Open Agency from March 29 to April 1, 39.8% support this position. surveyed. A third (32.3%) said that only the president should continue to travel to the EVS, and 15.9% – that the head of government. 7.7% did not comment on this question and 4.3% did not answer at all. citizens surveyed.
“(…) As you can see from the results obtained, the majority of the people in Lithuania are in favor of the EVS being represented by the President and the Prime Minister alternately, depending on the content of the issues discussed by the EVS ( according to the competence defined in the Constitution of Lithuania). I hope that this information will be of use to you in the debates, deliberations and decisions of the committees on this subject, “writes M. Maldeikis, member of the European Affairs Committee.
However, it appears that this poll may simply generate tensions between the Presidency and those in power. Last week, BNS published a poll conducted by Vilmorus, which shows that the majority of citizens would like President G. Naus ,da, rather than the prime minister, to continue to represent Lithuania in the EVS.
Commenting on the results of this poll, the president said on Friday that he believes it shows that the public has more understanding than politicians committed to changing the order of representation in EVS.
However, judging from the results of both surveys, it is difficult to say what the public’s opinion is about representation in EVS. In both studies, the question was asked and contextually different. And this, of course, could have affected the results of both surveys. In other words, the response to respondents in these surveys may have been dictated not so much by the specifics of EVS representation as by political arithmetic and respondents’ likes and dislikes towards specific politicians.
The Conservative-sponsored poll on representation in EVS raises a number of highlights from a recent debate:
“Currently, there is a public debate: which of the main politicians, the president or the prime minister, should represent Lithuania in the European Council (EC). Those who say that it should be the Prime Minister argue that most of what is Happening in other countries are also Prime Ministers and that currently it is mainly about the issues for which Prime Ministers are then responsible (vaccination, economics). Those who say that the president should take place argue that that tradition has developed since the Dalia Grybauskaitė era and that foreign policy issues are also addressed there, for which the president is the main responsible. What do you think should happen to represent a country in the EVS? “
According to the study, 1,002 people over the age of 18 were interviewed. individuals, and the study error is 3.1 percent.
Conservatives’ question on EVS is a source of tension
When a new majority came to power, the question raised by the majority of the conservatives that the current practice should be abandoned, when Lithuania is represented in the EVS only by the head of the country, caused considerable friction with G. Nausėda. Representatives of the governing authorities have repeatedly expressed the view that it would be much more effective if Lithuania’s positions in the EVS were represented by the Head of Government.
Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė has said that depending on the content of the meetings, the Head of Government and the President of Lithuania could represent EVS alternately. However, G. Nausėda has repeatedly stated that he does not see the need to change current practice. According to the president, it is intolerable and unacceptable to ask whether he should continue to represent Lithuania in the EVS, when at that time the Government has many outstanding issues regarding the crisis caused by COVID-19.
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