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“The process of appointment of ambassadors, in which the Seimas Foreign Affairs Commission, the Government and the Presidency of the Republic of Lithuania participate, is carried out in accordance with the established procedures and in accordance with the law. This is not a public process, so we cannot comment on its details. The procedure stipulates that specific people must also be contacted in the host countries. Therefore, until all decisions have been made, a public debate is not possible; it is also a matter of state prestige ”, says Gabrielius Landsbergis, head of Lithuanian diplomacy, in a comment sent to Elta.
For its part, the presidency asked the government on Thursday to appoint ambassadors to the embassies of the United States and the EU as soon as possible.
“It would be good to do this as soon as possible to fill these vacant positions,” Asta Skaisgirytė, the president’s senior adviser, told LRT radio on Thursday.
A closed-door meeting of the CEC will be held on Friday.
A meeting of the Seimas Foreign Affairs Committee (URK) is scheduled for Friday. It is likely that in this session the members of the Seimas belonging to the commission will discuss the names of the candidates for the Lithuanian embassies in the US, the EU and other countries agreed by the Government and the Presidency.
The Diplomatic Service Law stipulates that “after prior examination of the candidacy in the Foreign Relations Committee of the Seimas, the President of the Republic shall appoint a diplomatic representative of a foreign state in a foreign state with the consent of that foreign state through a decree signed by the Prime Minister. “
In other words, upon receiving the conclusion of the CEC, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs addresses the foreign state to which the candidate for the post of ambassador will be sent. With consent, the government presents a coordinated candidacy to the president, who appoints an ambassador.
URK President: Such things are not discussed publicly
The chairman of the Seimas Foreign Affairs Committee, Žygimantas Pavilionis, said he could not reveal whether the names of the embassies recently mentioned in public space were actually discussed on Friday.
“It just came to our notice then. This proceeding is closed, but we hope that those deliberations will begin in the near future,” said Eltai. Pavilion.
“By law, we cannot comment on this procedure until we have obtained the consent of the states.” I comply with the law and I hope that all institutions comply with it, “said the politician.
URK candidates may disagree
The URK president said this week that Eltai did not rule out the possibility that the committee he chaired might disagree with one of the candidates.
“Everything has been in our history, there have been disagreements, but I hope that the choice is such that we have no doubts (…) Basically, it will depend on human professionalism. No party is opposed to the professionals we have seen on diplomatic fronts for decades. Therefore, there must be universal acceptance, because it guarantees continuity, permanence ”, Ž. Pavilion.
However, even if the CEC does not approve nominations submitted to embassies, the process for appointing diplomatic representatives should not necessarily stop.
One of the founders of the Constitution, Professor Vytautas Sinkevičius from Mykolas Romeris University (MRU), claims that the Seimas Committee has no instruments to prevent the government from nominating a candidate for ambassador and the president from appointing a candidate.
“We must be guided by the principle of separation of powers. According to the Constitution, only two entities participate in the appointment of ambassadors. The Ambassador is appointed by the President at the proposal of the Government. Therefore, no other entity, be it a committee, a commission or any council can make decisions that do not allow the government to nominate or allow the president to appoint an ambassador, ”V. Sinkevičius told Eltai.
For example, in 2013 the CEC did not support the decision to withdraw the ambassadors from Azerbaijan and Hungary after diplomatic phone calls were made public. However, URK’s position was ignored by the Government and its decision was not modified.
The process of appointing ambassadors has been drawn out and turned into a political debate
The process of appointing ambassadors to the US, the EU and other important missions for Lithuania has taken almost half a year.
ELTA recalls that currently Lithuania has not appointed ambassadors to the United States, Germany, the EU, Turkey, Australia, UNESCO, the Council of Europe.
However, the main focus was on the fact that former ministers Linas Linkevičius and Raimundas Karoblis were not appointed to embassies in the United States and the European Union. President Gitanas Nausėda argued that former ministers in the Saulius Skvernelis government needed “political cooling.”
For his part, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, G. Landsbergis, was critical of the arguments expressed by G. Nausėda about the “political cooling”.
“I’m not entirely convinced what that ‘cooling’ is and how it should work,” Landsberg told Radio News on Wednesday.
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