[ad_1]
According to M. Maldeikis, one of the hottest topics in the EU at the moment is the supply of vaccines.
“In our country, this issue has once again brought to light the problem of representation in the European Council (EVS) and, at the same time, the issue of the division of power in the country,” Maldeikis said at a press conference this Tuesday.
According to him, according to the country’s Constitution, no questions should arise, because EU issues are issues of the country’s internal politics, so the Government should take priority.
“Who will be ultimately responsible for the vaccination policy in our country, what will happen to vaccination in the country and who will be responsible for it? Of course, it will be the Minister of Health, it will be the Prime Minister. But the EVS raises the issue and the decisions are made by the president. The principle of separation of powers is strange, when decisions are made by one power and the responsibility falls on another ”, said the conservative.
Mr Maldeikis acknowledged that EVS also addresses issues related to the EU’s foreign policy: relations with Russia, the United States and the possible enlargement of the Community. According to him, here are the problems of both the president and the government in terms of competition.
The politician noted that the EVS meetings last year focused more on national policy issues, which are very important to us: vaccines, negotiations on the multi-year financial perspective.
“These are issues that affect each of us on a daily basis,” Maldeikis said.
He said that the fact that the president went to the EVS was traditionally due to the “strength of personalities”, when then-Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius gave the opportunity to go to the summits to President Dalia Grybauskaitė. This tradition has been maintained with other heads of government.
“In my opinion, it is not so much a question of law, but of a well-established level of nobility, when one authority transfers its powers to another, simply by sitting at a table and agreeing. This is not the best example of how we should manage the state ”, M. Maldeikis is convinced.
However, according to M. Maldeikis, he believes in the “goodwill” of the president and prime minister and awaits their agreement, so he does not plan to introduce legislation. However, if this problem is not resolved, in the opinion of M. Maldeikis, in the future it may be necessary to go to the Constitutional Court to clarify this situation.
It started from Paksas
According to the liberal Petras Auštrevičius, Member of the European Parliament, the fact that certain politicians or parties come to power after certain practices cannot be ignored. According to him, this issue has aroused passions since the end of the EU accession negotiations.
P. Auštrevičius says that it is possible to wonder if the model chosen now is the most appropriate. According to the MEP, such a tradition dates back to the year of Rolandas Paksas.
“It just came to our knowledge then <...> His team expressed great ambitions, wishes and interest to take on greater management of European policies in their own hands, ”recalled P. Auštrevičius.
According to the Liberal, this continued later with other presidents: Valdas Adamkus, D. Grybauskaitė and continues to this day when G. Nausėda holds the presidency.
According to P. Auštrevičius, the affairs of the European Union become matters of the country’s internal politics, so it has little to do with foreign policy.
“We can ask what authority in Lithuania <...> attribute the coordination of European policy “, – said P. Auštrevičius.
According to him, in some European countries there is an independent deputy prime minister to oversee European politics. Fr Auštrevičius himself believes that EU affairs are matters of internal politics. The politician also discussed why, when the EVS deals with economic issues, the president does not inform the Seimas, but instead sends advisers to do so.
The president is violating the Constitution
Former European Commissioner, Social Democrat Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis, stated that the Constitution stipulates that the President, together with the Government, pursues foreign policy, and domestic policy issues such as the country’s budget are the responsibility of the Government.
As noted by V. Andriukaitis, the documents regulating the work of the EVS indicate that the Prime Minister participates in the meetings and, when specific issues are discussed, he may be assisted by the Minister.
According to V. Andriukaitis, when V. Adamkus was the president, the prime minister and the foreign minister, and sometimes the president together with the foreign minister, they brought individual cases to the EVS.
“After that, the clearest violations of the Constitution occurred, which continue to this day,” said V. Andriukaitis.
According to him, when the EVS deals with national policy issues, the prime minister should meet with the minister of a specific field, when foreign policy issues, the president could also participate.
“It just came to our knowledge then <...> it depends on the government, ”said V. Andriukaitis.
The president has the constitutional right to participate in EVS
Vytautas Sinkevičius, former president of the Constitutional Court (CC), pointed out that EU law does not strictly regulate who should represent the state, it is the state who chooses him. V. Sinkevičius noted that currently only the presidents of four countries (France, Romania, Cyprus and Lithuania) attend EVS meetings.
However, according to V. Sinkevičius, in these countries, unlike Lithuania, the Government is subordinate to the President, in some of these countries the Presidents preside over the meetings of the Government.
“Usually [į EVT] The prime ministers are leaving, ”said the former CC judge.
According to him, according to the Constitution, it is difficult to define what specific powers the President has, what the Government has, who in any case has a decisive vote.
However, as noted by V. Sinkevičius, the president has the authority to shape the country’s foreign policy, and this concept can include Lithuania’s membership in the EU and the decisions of its institutions. According to a former CC judge, the president cannot deviate from addressing foreign policy issues, and EVS shapes the overall EU political agenda.
“I believe that it follows from the Constitution that the president has the constitutional right to participate in all EVS meetings, regardless of the issues that are considered, and that right cannot be restricted or limited by laws and other legal acts. Finally, it is in line with the purpose of the EVS, its functions, ”said V. Sinkevičius.
However, according to him, this does not mean that only the president can attend the meetings. According to V. Sinkevičius, the Prime Minister can also go to the EVS. According to V. Sinkevičius, the Prime Minister would have this right if the head of the country did not wish to participate in EVS meetings.
“The president’s decision not to participate determines who will participate in them, he or the prime minister,” said V. Sinkevičius.
According to him, if the Seimas tried to determine by law in which cases the President would participate in the EVS and in which cases the Prime Minister, it would be difficult to do so and potentially contrary to the Constitution.
According to V. Sinkevičius, if the government seeks a more determined representation of the country in the EVS, what happens at these summits should be the subject of a political agreement.
Nausėda was expected to offer Šimonyte to share
Albinas Januška, a signatory of the Act of Independence and former advisor to V. Adamkus, said that it cannot be that the president acts alone and that his exclusive competence is foreign policy, and the government remains on the sidelines. According to him, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is part of the Government and not a “service of the presidency.”
“Obvious problems <...> that are by no means clear today, ”said A. Januška.
He said there are opinions that the issue should not be discussed, as it could anger the president. A. Januška assured that this is a fundamental constitutional and European issue. The signatory said he hoped that the president himself would offer I. Šimonyte to share visits to the EVS.
“The president could suggest how to solve these problems himself, instead of using his advisers to explain that he is the executive and therefore has the right to participate,” Januška said.
The signatory affirmed that the power of the president to solve this problem. If not resolved, according to A. Januska, the Seimas must take the initiative.
Video of the press conference:
Presidency rejects calls to change Lithuania’s representation at EU summits
Asta Skaisgirytė, adviser to the president on foreign policy, says that the proposals of some members of the conservative Seimas faction to delegate not the president but the prime minister to the summits of the European Union are without foundation either in terms of the constitution or having consider established practice.
According to her, this question began to be raised artificially after the Seimas elections to achieve the objectives of internal politics, and the current procedure “works well and could continue to work.”
“It seems to me that this debate is artificially ignited in our internal politics (…). That discussion started to take place in the public sphere when the current majority of the Seimas came to power, ”A. Skaisgirytė told News Radio on Tuesday.
He drew attention to the provisions of the Constitution that define the president as head of state and representative of the state of Lithuania, as well as the Constitutional Court’s interpretation that the president is part of the executive branch.
“It is quite clear that from the constitutional powers it follows that the president is both a foreign policy maker and a participant in domestic policy. The president is not an official who represents only foreign policy, he is elected by all the people of Lithuania. and participates in the life of Lithuania’s domestic politics, ”said A. Skaisgirytė.
He stressed that the president at the EU summits represents a position that is agreed with the Government and approved by the Seimas Committee.
After Lithuania’s accession to the EU, both the president and the prime minister attended the summits for some time, but during the presidency of President Dalia Grybauskaitė, the tradition of the president attending the European Council was established.
The idea that the president will be replaced by Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė at EU summits has been raised publicly in recent weeks by Matas Maldeikis and Jurgis Razma, members of the Union of the Homeland – Lithuanian Christian Democrats. They argue that the European Council is dominated by issues that fall within the government’s purview during a pandemic.
In an interview with BNS in December, Prime Minister I. Šimonytė said that she “sees no reason” to change Lithuania’s representation in the EU in the near future.
“I would say that this is not an issue that should be moved or changed in the near future, because there will be a lot for the government to do anyway,” the prime minister said at the time.
[ad_2]
