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“Delivery received on Monday,” a spokesman for the country’s chief confirmed to BNS Antanas Bubnelis on Friday.
Justice Minister Elvinas Jankevičius told BNS that the government had approved by consensus the candidacy of E. Pašilis at last week’s meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, in which E. Pašilis also participated, the issue was considered restricted.
The authorities did not release information on this decision and presentation of the Government.
Selection of candidacy
The law stipulates that a candidate for a court in the European Union is appointed by the government with the approval of the president. The statute of the Seimas stipulates that the candidacy must also be considered by the parliament.
The selection procedure of a candidate is not defined in the law, it is detailed in the selection description approved by the Minister of Justice E. Jankevičius, which stipulates that the selection must be carried out by a working group headed by the Minister of Justice .
According to E. Jankevičius, this procedure is not a tender. According to him, the delegation of a candidate to judge can be compared to the process of appointing ambassadors, and a working group is formed for candidates to submit applications that will be evaluated by different institutions.
“Naturally, before the meeting we ask who has what positions. The selection is not a competition, it is a delegation ”, he said.
However, other members of the working group take a different position.
“It is a selection that goes by the description, it is definitely not a delegation,” a member of the selection panel told BNS, who did not want to be named.
Following the group’s meeting on October 29, the Ministry of Justice announced that its members had cast the largest number of votes in favor of E. Pašilius.
Gediminas Kirkilas, the then chairman of the European Affairs Committee, who represented Seimas on the selection committee, said that before the selection committee meeting, the Minister of Justice informed him that the government supported and would nominate E. Pašilis. The politician said that the message led him to vote for the candidate.
“As the Government supported the candidacy of E. Pašilis, I supported her as representative of the majority. (…) If the Government submits, we are members of the majority, and we support the Government’s proposal,” said the head of the “social workers”.
Justice Minister E. Jankevičius says E. Pašilis’s candidacy was tentatively discussed with G. Kirkilas, but denied that the government’s support had been expressed.
“It’s not true. I didn’t tell anyone. You may not have understood something like this, if he (Kirkilas – BNS) says yes, he says yes, what can I say. (…) We may have argued certain qualities of the candidates, but I did not really say why or how and so on, here it was a question of self-determination, “said the minister.
According to the minister, the objective was to discuss the candidacy in advance so that the process, which had been stagnant for more than a year, finally culminated with the delegation of the candidate.
The presidency did not respond to the BNS question on whether the candidacy of E. Pašilis had previously been coordinated with the head of the country or his representatives.
The government press service, BNS, said that no candidacy had been agreed with the prime minister.
One of the prime minister’s advisers, Donatas Matuiza BNS, also said that E. Pašilis’s candidacy had not been discussed or agreed with him beforehand.
Other members of the selection commission interviewed by BNS del Seimas, the Government and the Council of Judges stated that they knew nothing about the candidacy of E. Pašilis and the government’s support for a particular candidate.
Agnė Širinskienė, representative of the “Peasants” and chair of the Seimas Law and Order Committee, has said that the council of the ruling coalition did not discuss this issue and that preliminary coordination with other institutions casts doubt on the objectivity of the process.
The description of the selection procedure for the General Court of the EU approved by E. Jankevičius in the autumn of 2018 states that the commission assesses whether the candidates meet the requirements for senior judicial positions, as well as the knowledge of the working languages of the court. If necessary, the task force can invite candidates who meet the formal criteria for an interview.
Presidency: It would be appropriate for the president to choose from among several candidates
In his comment to BNS, Jūratė Šovienė, legal adviser to the president, stated that “emerging issues regarding selection indicate that the selection procedure could be improved.”
“In the opinion of the presidency, at least the time to deliver documents to such high positions should have been much longer than a week. We believe that it would be appropriate to present several candidates for the president’s approval, from which he would have the opportunity to choose the best one, ”said J. Šovienė.
“Once the government nominates a candidate, he will be fully evaluated. But we must note that three institutions participate in the approval of a candidate for the General Court of the EU: the Government, the President and the Seimas. Thus, the candidate for this position must have the political support of the three institutions ”, he added.
Mr Pašilis is already the third candidate for the General Court of the EU in Luxembourg.
Lithuania initially appointed Constitutional Court judge Gediminas Mesonis, but his candidacy was rejected in August last year by a Luxembourg-based candidate evaluation committee.
Subsequently, the Government decided to propose the appointment of Virgilijus Valantis as another judge, but his candidacy was rejected by President Gitanas Nausėda.
The breakthrough in the search for a candidate only came in October. The latest selection was officially announced by the Ministry of Justice on October 19, those wishing to participate had to submit their documents before October 23, and the selection committee met and voted on October 29.
Meetings on the eve of the selection: on budget and legislation.
On October 13, E. Pašilis met with Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis and the Chancellor of the Government, Algirdas Stončaitis. Both sides of the SNB said the budget for the prosecutor’s office was discussed at the meeting. The government approved next year’s state budget bill on October 14.
This meeting was not announced in the agendas of the heads of the institutions.
On October 8, E. Pašilis met with Justice Minister E. Jankevičius. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Deputy Prosecutor General Žydrūnas Radišauskas also participated in this meeting, and the meeting focused on the improvement of the detention institute and the general validation of judicial and tax examinations. Their last meeting took place on October 14, when the minister congratulated E. Pašilis on his birthday, BNS reported the prosecutor’s office.
Responding to questions about the fall meetings, the prosecution, for its part, noted that they did not address the pre-trial investigations.
“In the event that any communication with certain high-ranking officials could be interpreted as inappropriate due to the pre-trial investigations initiated, the Attorney General E. Pašilis did not hold such meetings with these persons,” E. Martinonienė noted in his responses.
The Office of the Attorney General of the Republic is leading several preliminary investigations initiated this year into high-value acquisitions related to the management of COVID-19, which also involve government officials.
E. Pašilis refrains from commenting on the candidacy for the EU court, arguing that the process is not over yet.
Rimvydas Norkus and V. Valančius, a former judge of the Supreme Court of Lithuania (SCL) appointed last year with the approval of the Seimas, are currently working at the General Court of the EU. Although the term of the latter judge ended in October last year, he has been working to this day due to disagreement over a new candidate.
The General Court of the EU hears mainly actions against acts of the EU institutions, including actions brought by states against the European Commission. Judges are appointed to this court for a period of six years.
E. Pašilis was appointed Prosecutor General for a period of five years at the end of December 2015. Until then, he served for 15 years as a judge of the Ukmergė District Court, five of them as president of this court.
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