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The court ruling will be officially announced on December 23, so the government can act until then, announced the president of the court, Dainius Žalimas.
The Seimas granted the powers to the government in a protocol resolution in August last year, but the Constitutional Court held that parliament had to apply a longer procedure during which the government’s program is considered.
“The powers can be granted to the Government in the only way: with the approval of the Seimas for its program”, said D. Žalimas.
According to him, the government program can be reconsidered and not modified; it is a matter for decision makers to decide.
According to D. Žalimas, the decision to postpone the entry into force of the resolution was taken to avoid the situation in which there is no government in the country.
Photo by Julius Kalinskas / 15min / Dainius Žalimas
“There can be no situation in the state where there is no government in it, because it is the institution that organizes the entire state administration (…) It must function continuously,” the president of the Constitutional Court told the press after the announcement.
“In such a case, the postponement of the Constitutional Court ruling in time is inevitable, because if it came into force today and immediately, there would be no government in the country,” he added.
According to the President of the Constitutional Court, in this way all legal acts adopted by this Government before December 23 cannot be “automatically questioned” on the basis of this decision.
The President of the Court also said that the Government should now consider its program of activities.
“Now the government itself should evaluate to what extent and if it should change its program of activities so that it is duly considered in the Seimas,” Žalimas said.
According to D. Žalimas, this judgment of the Court will have consequences in the future.
“The judgments of the Constitutional Court are usually all directed to the future and in the future, if such a situation arises when more than half of the ministers change from some other government, this judgment provides total clarity,” said D. Žalimas.
Among other things, it will be necessary to modify the regulations provided for in the Statute of the Seimas, which is in conflict with the Constitution.
“Given that the legal regulation established in the Statute of the Seimas is in conflict with the Constitution, in principle the contrary is established, it must be amended in accordance with the requirements of the Constitution,” said the President of the Constitutional Court.
The Constitutional Court examined the case according to the written procedure of the group of members of the Seimas belonging to the opposition.
According to the Constitution, after the presidential elections last year, S. Skvernelis returned the powers of the Government to the new President Gitan Nausėda.
The reassignment of powers to the Government was necessary because more than half of the ministers had changed since the beginning of the leadership of S. Skvernelis in 2016.
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