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Andrius Šuminas, Head of the Media Research Laboratory of the Vilnius University (VU) Faculty of Communication, an expert in political communication, says that Prime Minister I. Šimonytė is currently in an unenviable situation as he is not easy to start working in power from the peak of coronavirus diseases.
“Right now we are seeing firefighters, trying to solve the situation, managing the health system and other things. In these difficult conditions, I. Šimonytė tries to remain herself. Her communication style is the same as it was before she became Prime Minister: she tries to be human, simple, explains her decisions and does not lose her sense of humor ”, says A. Šuminas.
In the spring, Lithuania fought the coronavirus in an exemplary manner. However, experts estimated that the government relaxed too early, so that at the end of last year we became the first in the European Union in terms of incidence of Covid-19.
Several thousand new cases of coronavirus are registered every day, and the number of deaths is growing rapidly. Although some such improvements have been observed for a few days, according to experts, it is too early to be happy. All hopes are pinned on this year’s vaccination against Covid-19, but there aren’t many challenges here either.
Political scientist: coronavirus is so widespread that miracles from Šimonytė are not worth waiting for
Bernaras Ivanovas, associate professor and political scientist at Vytautas Magnus University (VMU), points out that when looking at the current pandemic situation in the world, it would be naive to expect someone to deal with the pandemic in an effective, unique and extremely effective way.
“It’s impossible, we don’t see any such state. The myth has spread in Taiwan, Japan, Korea. Wherever it is chintz it spreads practically unstoppably. Those measures that once seemed like a panacea are not working and a new strain of the virus is spreading in the UK.
Therefore, wait for miracles from I. Šimonytė is definitely not worth it. The only thing that can be expected is proper, proper and respectful communication. It is important to have proper communication, not the one we saw last year from S. Skvernel and his team. Teachings, intimidations, threats that we relax, but you, not us, relaxed with all kinds of medals. I hope there are no medals here. I. Šimonytė is a suitable person, and the suitability of some people from the previous administration raised my doubts. There were very dramatic and drastic steps; for generic drugs, for example, it was a nightmare what they did there.
Of course, there can be mistakes, no one is immune from them. But you want, as they say, in the sense of that “new normal” policy. That normality would change and we would be from below where we got into or even made our way to start climbing. I hope so from the new government. But we still have to wait here, because nobody can predict, I think, not even Vanga could. We still have to wait, but it is already possible to make assumptions before a different policy, ”says political scientist B. Ivanov.
Strict measures can have a negative effect
According to A. Šuminas, the crisis situation gives politicians the opportunity to strengthen their positions, but in the same way it can “turn the other side of the stick, greatly reduce the popularity of politicians”.
“It is very important how long the peak of the crisis, the hot spot, lasts, when we are one of the leaders in Europe in terms of new diseases. How quickly and by what means will that fire be extinguished or extinguished?
Naturally, people are tired of the pandemic, of limitations; they want it to end soon. Strict measures can have a negative effect on I. Šimonytė’s evaluations and positive evaluations, ”says the interlocutor.
According to him, we are already seeing outrage in society: where is the action plan? When will we get vaccinated? He underlines that it is not easy for I. Šimonyte and the Government, because we are sitting in the same “boat” with all the EU countries.
“Vaccines are received centrally, so there are some super we cannot make decisions. Unfortunately, we cannot see processes like in Israel, where vaccination is taking place at a rapid pace. It seems that it could soon be the first state to vaccinate the majority of its population. Being on a common EU ship is not a big decision. You have to be a passenger and try to explain and communicate those decisions, ”says A. Šuminas.
“Leverage, not in the hands of Šimonytė or Dulkis”
The political scientist B. Ivanov takes a similar position. It states that the influence for the management of the pandemic is not in the hands of the Minister of Health Arūnas Dulkis or the Prime Minister I. Šimonytė.
“It is just an illusion that Mr. A. Dulkis or I. Šimonytė have those levers in their hands, they are not in their hands. The leverage is in the management. And the management is diverse and employs thousands of people: different structures and institutions.
We have seen “fantastic” episodes of statistics with data (due to unaccounted deaths: automatic passing). The problem here is that the public administration and the system are rotting away. There were many shelters for relatives in Lithuania. There is a huge sewer in the healthcare system, and perhaps not even in our minds we could fully understand what is happening there. We remember scandalous stories about computer systems, about various purchases, about expensive and dusty equipment. “The government has not undertaken the optimization of the health sector network, but it is absurd,” says the interlocutor.
The political scientist recalled the start of the coronavirus in Lithuania, which was very difficult. “We remember how one of the leaders of the Center for Public Health, Mr. P, went on the air as Philip of cannabis for two months and started talking. Let’s look at other countries, like Great Britain, Sweden, Switzerland or others, where the head of that institution has always spoken, but not the minister and not the prime minister. Communicated by specialists and a team that deals with the problems of the pandemic. This was not even the case in Lithuania.
It is obvious that the systemic corruption that has been and is in Lithuania has hurt the middle class. The inefficiency of this chain is a problem and the State itself is not efficient. Here one can only sympathize with A. Dulkis and I. Šimonytė and other top leaders of the country, because they can be pulled by the ropes, but what about that? Those cables are broken. They stopped long before they had to be pulled; Until then, everything seems to be more or less there. The journalists extracted and commented on each other’s stories, followed by legal proceedings that ended in nothing or no access to court. It all ended with the annual speeches of former President Dalia Grybauskaitė and problemthat nepotism is everywhere in our country.
Therefore, putting a lot of hope in the high officials of our country, I think it is naive and really not worth it. Here a reform of public administration is needed at the state level. This should be a very serious transparency reform. It is possible, but it requires a lot of political will and a well-functioning team that is not tied to multiple stakeholders. When the pandemic ends, will the new government take office? It is very difficult to predict because it is a huge job. Even bigger than any logistics for vaccines. “
According to the political scientist, now the crossed fingers should be expected to get vaccinated and come out of that well faster, and then start to systematically manipulate them. Then take a seat at the table after the “coronavirus battle” to see what happens.
“Vaccination, as I understand it, must be fought at the European level. You have to fight tooth and nail because we see a very sad picture when everyone is behind them. For example, the vaccination rates in Britain, which has almost dropped out of EU, they are incomparably higher than in Switzerland itself, not to mention Israel, which is a separate story. The EU is bureaucratic to madness, as I understand it, it is preventing the wheel of vaccines and vaccines from turning Bureaucrats until they decide if the vaccine is adequate or not.
Of course, they carry out those procedures for which they receive money. I don’t think that problem is past the point of death yet, Angela Merkel has only shaken it up a bit, but I still don’t see any improvement. This can, in the long term, have a major impact on public and national attitudes towards the EU. I fear that this may lead to a new wave of Euroscepticism, “predicts political scientist B. Ivanov.
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