Skvernelis sympathizes with Šimonytė: we see that there are no ministers, there are none

The former prime minister, who has received much criticism both for the inaction of his Government during the second wave of COVID-19 and for the Cabinet in general, says that it is not communication but the choice of ministers that should cause the head. by Šimonyte. to hurt more and more.

“This government still has strong media support and all the mistakes it makes are highlighted as miscommunication and misunderstandings,” he told Eltai.

S. Skvernelis remembered the beginning of his government. According to him, for him in 2016. after taking over the Cabinet of Ministers, the media was much more critical.

“At that time, our plan of measures was turning around … And now the current government’s plan is not very interesting,” he said.

However, the Prime Minister says that, looking at the work of the Government of Ingrida Šimonytė, the communication from the Cabinet of Ministers does not raise any further questions. It is precisely because of poorly and inconsistently communicated decisions that I. Šimonytė’s cabinet has received the most criticism recently. The opposition leader says that the problems that accompany the right-wing government are, in his opinion, much greater.

“The problem is not communication errors, but chaos in government activities, there are no concrete works,” said S. Skvernelis.

“If there are bad decisions or none, what can be communicated,” argued a member of the “peasant” faction of the Seimas against criticism from the right.

“Time is running out, almost five months, but we do not see a tangible result,” added the former prime minister.

According to him, because 100 days after the beginning of the work of the Government of I. Šimonytė, more and more criticism is heard, the expectations generated by the same people on the right are also to blame.

“They said they would come and that things would be different. And in fact everything is different, but much worse than it was, “summarized S. Skvernelis.

The government is distracted and foolish

It must be recognized that in many ways the failure of the government is due to the coronavirus crisis, S. Skvernelis pointed out, but assured that this is not an excuse for the current distraction of the Cabinet of Ministers and, according to him, “nonsense.”

“In the morning, the minister (Aušrinė Armonaitė – ELTA) says that we will open businesses, and in the afternoon she says that we will not open anything. Some say that the so-called green passport is necessary and useful, while others say that it is useless. This different diffusion of government news is a tragedy. That cannot be the case, since the Government is a team, discussions are needed in informal meetings to reach a common position of the Government. People trusted then, and now she is lying, distracted and fooling around, “said S. Skvernelis, probably referring to the promise made by the Minister of Economy and Innovation Aušrinė Armonaitė on Wednesday morning of June 12. It will be allowed to work in all supermarkets However, the Cabinet of Ministers headed by I. Šimonytė postponed this proposal the same day.

I sympathize with I. Šimonytė, but only she is to blame

Pessimistic about the current government’s work, S. Skvernelis said that, in his opinion, the main reason for such a “bleak” situation is a understaffed cabinet. The former prime minister emphasized this, he spoke before the cabinet of ministers of I. Šimonytė began to work.

“They came unprepared, they came before they had been on the stand for eight years, when the words and comments were buried, ideas for which there was no need to respond in any way. Now, when it is necessary to demonstrate real work, there are no skills or ideas left, ”said S. Skvernelis, recalling the composition of his Government, metaphorically asserted that I. Šimonytė’s Cabinet of Ministers is simply empty.

“I said this before the formation of the Government, I do not envy the Prime Minister for her team. Now we see that there are no ministers … There are none. Only one other who shows leadership and works successfully. But in reality they simply do not exist” said the opposition leader.

During the conversation with ELTA, the former prime minister seemed to show empathy, saying that he understood the difficult circumstances in which I. Šimonytė, who had replaced him as prime minister, had to work, but in the end the politician admitted that it was guilty.

“She put the team together herself,” Skvernelis said.

According to S. Skvernelis, the fact that there is no need to worry about the composition of the Cabinet of Ministers makes us believe that information is also coming from the Lithuanian regions. Skvernel said he had learned that the current government ministers avoided meeting with representatives from their areas of responsibility.

“They avoid phone calls and contacts. They are just scared because there is no more nonsense here. When you meet farmers you need to talk about in a very specific way, not with slogans ”, S. Skvernelis summarized the information received through his own channels.

You believe police officers were treated indecently and disrespectfully

Finally, in an incomprehensible decision, the opposition leader mentioned the fact that the policemen remained last in the vaccination list of the priority groups. S. Skvernel assured me that not so much because he himself is a former civil servant. He said the current government simply does not understand that the police have had to accept tasks in recent months that he considered simply illogical.

“If we talk about the measures that we were able to choose for the management, especially the not entirely logical blockade between the municipalities … It is impossible without the police, compliance with the quarantine regime. You can make the decisions you want, but if the police are not active, not based on principles, not thinking ultimately, because those laws must also be applied with common sense, not blindly, it will certainly be nothing. Therefore, leaving the police and border guards overboard in this situation is incomprehensible, ”said S. Skvernelis.

“I say this, not only because I am a former official … This approach (designated place on the priority vaccination list – ELTA) is a really incomprehensible attitude towards officials who have resigned from their direct functions and respond directly to non-fulfillment of direct functions , doing everything possible to secure sometimes illogical instructions from the government – it is disrespectful and indecent to treat them this way, ”said S. Skvernelis.