Tuesday, July 14, 2020
Lithuania’s president says he will be more demanding for candidates nominated to the country’s next cabinet of ministers. “I will be principled. I’ll have no problem rejecting as many candidates as it will take to get the right result and the right candidate,” President Gitanas Nausėda told a news conference on Thursday. Lithuania is holding general elections in October. “I do hope that the future ruling coalition will have a…
An initiative by the Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda to provide one-off child benefits to support families during the coronavirus pandemic is making its way through the Lithuanian parliament. The bill passed the second reading in the Seimas with 94 votes in favour, one against and five abstentions on Thursday, and will need a final vote to be adopted. Nausėda proposes to provide one-off payments of 120 euros per child to…
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has proposed establishing a corruption resilience rating for the country’s institutions. The bill to reform the Law on Prevention of Corruption is backed by the country’s anti-corruption watchdog, the Special Investigations Service (STT). The president’s focus is “on prevention so that we could fight not only the consequences but would also be able to manage the risks,” Darius Kuliesius, an adviser to Nausėda, told reporters on…
In a first call between leaders of the two countries in a decade, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda offered his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, help with the Covid-19 pandemic. “The leader of our country offered Belarus assistance in the form of medical supplies, if needed, because Belarus has submitted its request for aid to the European Union,” Asta Skaisgirytė, Nausėda’s foreign policy adviser, said in a comment sent to the media.…
Lithuanian president backs the idea of joint borrowing by eurozone countries to finance economic rescue plan in the wake of the coronavirus epidemic. According to Simonas Krėpšta, an adviser to President Gitanas Nausėda, EU leaders discussed the prospect of issuing the so-called ‘coronavirus bonds’ at their teleconference summit earlier this week. “While the idea was not the main topic of the meeting, it was rather well received by the…
After a string of pollution scandals, the Lithuanian president called for a new environmental control system that would fix “the crimes” that went on for decades. The Environmental Protection Department has come under fire in the wake of recent environmental scandals. In January, Grigėo Klaipėda cardboard factory was cought allegedly releasing untreated wastewater into the Baltic waters for years. Read more: Grigeo product sales at Lithuanian shops fall in wake…
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has yet to decide on Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis’ proposal to give a top state award to Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of Poland’s conservative Law and Justice party. Last year, Skvernelis proposed to award Kaczyński for his “outstanding merits” in developing Lithuanian–Polish relations, as well as for the help integrating “Lithuania and the whole Baltic region into Western military and energy security structures”. Read more: Lithuanian…
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has refused to appoint Lukas Savickas, an adviser to Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis, for the job of economy and innovation minister. “The president considered Savickas’ candidacy for the post of economy and innovation minister and he made the decision not to approve his nomination,” Antanas Bubnelis, Nausėda’s spokesman, told reporters on Wednesday, suggesting that Savickas’ lack of experience made him unsuitable for the role. With less…
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda met with the proposed candidate for economy minister, Lukas Savickas. He has yet to decide whether to appoint the prime minister’s adviser to the position. “I personally stressed the importance of ensuring the continuity of started work, including strengthening the competitiveness of the business environment, continuing innovative reforms and continuing digitalisation work,” Savickas told reporters after the meeting. He said his other priorities would be promoting…
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda and Speaker of the Seimas Viktoras Pranckietis are on Monday going to Auschwitz death camp in Poland. In solidarity with his Polish counterpart, Lithuanian president chose to go to Auschwitz instead of attending the Yod Vashem event in Jerusalem. Polish President Andrzej Duda rejected the invitation to come to Jerusalem as he was denied the right to speak, contrary to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Duda later…
