Party leaders refer to Nausėda’s annual report: it will obviously be different from Grybauskaitė

However, some opposition party leaders expect the president to take a critical look at the work done by rulers and the prevailing political culture in recent years.

R. Karbauskis: Compared to D. Grybauskaitė, these are two different people

Ramūnas Karbauskis, President of the Union of Peasants and Greens of Lithuania, states that the rulers’ relations with G. Nausėda are much more constructive than with former President D. Grybauskaitė.

“When we talk about D. Grybauskaitė and G. Nausėda, I can say that they are completely different people and their completely different policies. D. Grybauskaitė participated in politics the hard way, without trying to find any compromise or discussion. She he humiliated everyone who disobeyed his opinion or had a different opinion. It is at this point that this president is not really doing this. Cooperation with G. Nausėda is very constructive. Even when opinions differ, the president does not attack dissidents humiliating and realizes that there are differences of opinion. Now we have a president with whom it is possible to speak, and we speak with him, “R. Karbauskis told Eltai.

R. Karbauskis also hopes that in the annual speech the president will mention the opposition, which he says continues to hinder work and is not constructive during the coronavirus.

“Of course, perhaps the president is sad to see how the opposition does not understand that the state needs coherence and joint work. The president sometimes mentions in his speech that he would like to seat the party leaders at a common table. But how to sit to people when the opposition tries to make things worse for Lithuania (…) In the opposition we see nothing, only the constant oppression of this government. We are constantly bad for them, but we never offer solutions to ourselves. The unconstructive opposition when we have coronavirus problems it’s a very bad thing. I don’t know if the president will talk about it or not, but it’s a problem, “he said.

When asked how he evaluated the president’s contribution during the coronavirus, R. Karbauskis said that the president did everything according to his duties.

“The President has certainly done nothing to make the situation worse. The President did what is necessary for his duties. Seimas is accused of adhering to quarantine and of not working daily, etc. t. But we did our job. We understood very well that it could become another focus if we were irresponsible (…) In the same way, the President has done his job, because it is not his job to directly manage the coronavirus and its crisis, to try to find some solutions. He communicated so much with the Seimas as with the Government to the extent that the Constitution stipulates the President in accordance with his functions.

The saying that the president was silent is the same as talking about the Seimas supposedly not working. The Seimas and the President did everything possible. In other words, the President was not ill and could work, so for the Presidency, this task at that time was one of the most important in order to guarantee the continuity of work. For example, imagine that if there had been a fireplace in the Presidency, it would have completely paralyzed the institution. As in the Seimas, if someone had fallen ill, the entire Seimas would have been in quarantine, “he said.

However, R. Karbauskis also mentioned one of the president’s weaknesses. According to him, the true Achilles heel for the President is his team of advisers.

“The presidential team is a big problem. Even in D. Grybauskaitė’s team, there were no such people who thought that his opinion was part of someone’s political will. After all, they are just advisers, and they have to represent the president. and express his opinion, but he could name and name when the arbitrariness, statements and actions of G. Nausėda’s advisers become certain problems.

I am convinced that it is not the will of the President, but the arbitrariness of his advisers who, for whatever reason, can afford it. They even dare speak to parliamentarians from above in the Seimas. But they are both advisers and advisers to members of the Seimas. “That is the only problem I am going to see at the moment, but it is the president’s business, and we do not have the will to change that, I am just affirming,” he said.

G. Paluck: President will raise political culture poster up

Gintautas Paluckas, chairman of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party, says the president should avoid strong epithets and harsh criticism of politicians in his annual speech.

“I have no doubt that the president will raise the political culture cartel higher than we have been hearing here lately.” He will avoid epithets and public beatings, as was the case with reports from other presidents. But I also hope that the evaluations are accurate and rigorous, especially the democratic processes and those internal political cultural processes, “G. Paluck told Eltai.

“I think the style of the president is smarter and more sustained compared to the outgoing president, who did not shy away from blaming one or the other.” But such reprimands and attempts to minimize dissident political opponents sometimes lead nowhere.

We must recognize that today we have a declining political culture and a moral political context. Democracy also faces challenges, as we see a mismatch not only with public opinion but also with the opening of data, because, according to an OECD study, we are in last place among all EU countries in terms of openness of data. “It really is not a fluid democratic process and of course I think the president sees it,” he said.

Paluck hopes the President will take a critical look at the work done by those in power.

“In his annual speech, the President reviews the general political context. He would look forward to the President’s focus on the Government’s achievements, the implementation of the program. Because we often see widely divergent views on how the ruling majority and the Government are doing. The President, I think, will also talk about his five-year program and his progress. I think he will tell us what difficulties they face and what help is needed from the opposition and the position to make that joint work easier. The President will also try to assess the general geopolitical situation, the relations of Lithuania with its neighbors and the relations with the partners of the EU. (…) I think there will be three blocks of this type in the evaluation of the rulers and the Government, the evaluation of their achievements and contributions, in other words, self-reflection and the general context of foreign policy, “said the LSDP leader.

When asked what strength G. Nausėda has shown in recent years, G. Paluckas said that the President is capable of mediating.

“The President has entered a very intense period, such as the collapse of the majority or the coronavirus. There was also a very tense relationship between the rulers and the Presidency. He had the option of deepening the crisis even further and perhaps even provoking early elections. I don’t know if this would have been good, especially now that Lithuania was dealing with a coronavirus pandemic. It had to mediate and mediate. Assuming responsibility, when many critics shout very freely that the president is weak, that he had to take sticks and win Everyone. That would be the easiest way to act here. It is much more difficult to reconcile irreconcilable enemies, competitors or opponents. This was a difficult task only for the incoming president, “said the LSDP president.

V. Čmilytė-Nielsen: a series of institutions without managers

Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, the president of the Liberal Movement, expects the president to comment on the situation whereby courts and other state institutions do not yet have their own leaders.

“Many posts and institutions are unoccupied or left to hang. I am also talking about the Constitutional Court, there are also very important positions for ships and are left to the will of fate, which is fundamentally dangerous for our young democracy. This angle would be very interesting for me, what would be the president’s attitude in the current situation and trend, “V. Čmilytė-Nielsen told Eltai.

According to the Seimas member, the President must also evaluate the work done by the rulers during the last year.

“It just came to our attention then. Both the pandemic and the years were extraordinary in our political space. For example, the peculiarities of the functioning of the government and some ministers. J. Narkevičius’ problems marked it very clearly. I really would like to The president’s assessment of that general political situation is very much. It is also an assessment of the change in political culture, which certainly has not improved this year, “he said.

For V. Čmilyte-Nielsen, the most memorable work done by G. Nausėda at the time was the exchange of spies between Lithuania and Russia.

Mr. Landsbergis: I hope that the President will take the country’s Constitution.

Gabrielius Landsbergis, president of the Christian Democratic Party of the Lithuanian National Union, affirms that in his annual speech, the head of the country will not avoid criticism of the rulers.

“Currently, the position of the head of the country is very important, as the state is shaken by scandals of corruption, opacity and unprecedented illegality, and the rulers openly ignore the principles of law and political responsibility.” We hope that the President will return to the Lithuanian political debate on the principles of political responsibility and transparency, and defend the country’s Constitution, “G. Landsbergis told Eltai.

ELTA recalls that on Thursday President Gitanas Nausėda will read his first annual report in the Seimas.