[ad_1]
In late March, the governors announced that the ERC had decided that the committee would not only approve Lithuania’s positions before each EVS meeting, but would also make recommendations on who should lead the Lithuanian delegation. Until then, the Seimas committee before the next EVS only approved Lithuania’s positions on individual issues, but did not speak about the composition of the delegation, and for more than a decade only the president represented the country.
Although such a decision by the committee, currently led by conservative Radvilė Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė, was treated by some conservatives as a devolution of constitutional powers to the ERC, it did not change the attitude of the Presidency. As the president and his advisers have repeatedly said, there is simply no basis for changing the practice of representation in EVS.
However, a member of the ERC of the Conservative Group says that this issue is likely to be raised in committee, since it is in the next EVS where issues will be discussed that, in his opinion, are clearly the responsibility of the Head of Government. The politician says that he expects ERC to have all the powers to delegate the prime minister to the EVS, for which Maldekis explained that he has even suspended the development of the bill promised to regulate representation in the EVS.
“I stopped writing the project to see that the ERC’s decision is a way of transferring the problem from the EVS to the ERC. At the same time, I understand that this is quite a temporary measure and I hope that the president, realizing that he himself is simply not in any legislation when it comes to requiring EVS, will show leadership, “said Maldeikis.
Speaking that he was waiting for the leadership of the president, the politician had in mind the expectation that G. Nausėda would still decide to share the representative function in the EVS with the head of government.
“I would very much like the president to consider the possibility and come to parliament with a proposal on how to address this issue,” Maldeikis said.
In any case, argued the politician, the question of representation in the EVS should be raised again in the near future. The European Council in the first half of May will discuss issues that Maldeikis believes are the prerogatives of the prime minister, not the president.
“The closest EVS is semi-informal and is a great example … It will address social problems. We are talking about issues like social problems, the way Lithuania imagines its social policy. It would be very difficult for me to understand how the president will go there and it will present the government’s positions on social policy. It would be quite strange, “said one of the most active initiators to change the current representation procedure of EVS in Lithuania.
Finally, Maldeikis did not rule out the possibility that during the discussion of the future composition of the Lithuanian delegation in the European Affairs Committee at EVS in May, it could be proposed that the country be represented not by President G. Nausėda, but by Prime Minister I. Šimonytė. The politician acknowledged that it is still difficult to say how such a proposal would end, a fact said by M. Maldeikis that this issue will undoubtedly lead to discussions in the European Affairs Committee.
“I imagine that most understand the situation, that there are social issues, that there is government policy and that the government is responsible for social policy in the country. However, it is difficult to say what the position of each individual committee member will be when voting on this. I think there will be a serious debate, ”said the politician.
In recent months, the question raised by the most conservative that the current practice should be abandoned, when Lithuania is represented in the EVS only by the head of the country, has caused considerable friction with G. Nausėda. Representatives of the governing authorities have repeatedly expressed the view that it would be much more effective if Lithuania’s positions in the EVS were represented by the Head of Government.
Prime Minister I. Šimonytė has said that depending on the content of the meetings, the Head of Government and the President of Lithuania could represent EVS alternately. However, G. Nausėda has repeatedly stated that he does not see the need to change current practice. According to the President, it is intolerable and unacceptable to ask whether it should continue to represent Lithuania in EVS, when at that time the Government has many outstanding issues regarding the crisis caused by COVID-19.
No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of ELTA.
[ad_2]
