Former Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis believes that the Prime Minister, Ingrida Šimonytė, could be more active in the search for a consensus. At the same time, Giedrius Surplys, a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs (URK), proposes to announce a new competition for the ambassador to Poland and asks rhetorically why the President has not thrown in the last trump card – he did not announce that he can no longer trust the Minister in charge of the country's diplomacy.
„The President has a powerful trump card here, which he has not used. He is just demonstratively holding it in his hand, but he has not yet put it on the table. He can declare no confidence in the Foreign Minister. This happened when Dalia Grybauskaitė was President, and Vygaudas Ušackas was a foreign minister“, Surplys told Elta.
„I don't want to give advice; it is the prerogative of the President, but the whole of Lithuania and the whole world already knows that the President of Lithuania and the Minister of Foreign Affairs are in a chronic state of disagreement,“ the politician added.
S. Skvernelis, who headed the previous Government, is also convinced that the protracted conflict is an eyesore and damaging to the country. However, the politician understands that the situation is very much the President's fault. According to him, listening to the arguments publicly put forward by Nausėda and, in particular, his team, one can get the impression that the Presidency has never understood what is written in the Constitution. This, Skvernelis argues, is well illustrated by the President's request to the Chancellor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Inga Černiuk, to provide her with documentation on the competitions for the selection of ambassadors.
„The Presidency does not understand that the Chancellor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not under the authority of the Chancellor of the Presidency. There is no subordination link. This is absurd. It is a pity that people have not understood the constitutional powers of the presidential institution,“ said Skvernelis.
„There is no one right side, but there is a Head of State. He should already understand his constitutional powers. After all, it is written: the Government nominates a candidate for ambassador. It is not the President, but the Government that says consider a specific candidate,“ he added.
On the other hand, the politician admitted that the Prime Minister could also take more active steps. If the process gets stuck, he said, it would be Šimonytė who should coordinate an ambassador to Poland.
„The Prime Minister should step in if the process is stuck“, Skvernelis said, recalling his time as Prime Minister.
„In any case, the processes should not be public, and the President should not impose his candidates“, the politician stated.
For his part, G. Surplys believes that the issue of the Lithuanian Ambassador to Poland can be resolved by the Ministry organising a new competition.
„Now, there is no need to go into the procedures, how and what happened there, but simply to announce a new tender. This can be done quickly, and by the end of January, we will have a common candidate“, Surplys said, adding that once again, the institutions are divided and do not understand that the conflict is not in favour of either side.
„It is not as if one institution is winning this duel“, the peasant concluded.
The conflict between the President and the Foreign Minister has been ongoing since last year.
With the controversy over the appointment of the Lithuanian Ambassador to Poland continuing since the end of last year, the President's Office this week asked the Chancellor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide documentation on the competitions for the selection of ambassadors. The Landsbergis-led Ministry pointed out that such requests could be an overstep of the powers provided for in the Constitution. The questions raised by the Presidency on the question of exceeding constitutional powers are incomprehensible.
Frederikas Jansonas, Senior Adviser to the President, is convinced that Mr Nausėda has the right to access the material. Moreover, he said, this would answer whether the competition for the post of Head of the Diplomatic mission in Poland had occurred.
ELTA recalls that the President's Office and the ruling party continue to argue about who is to blame because the embassy in Poland, which is strategically vital for Lithuania, does not have an ambassador. Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis says he has no answer about why the Lithuanian embassy in Poland has been without a head for five months. The Head of the country's diplomacy says he has submitted at least two ambassadorial nominations to the President, which were rejected.
The Presidency explained that the candidate the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (URM) proposed for the ambassadorship did not speak Polish. The Head of State also pointed out that the Ministry was politicising the appointment of an ambassador to Poland and was trying to patronise certain nominees for the post. Later, Frederikas Jansonas, the President's Chief Adviser, stated that the appointment of ambassadors was stalling because the so-called statesmen clan was trying to take over critical national positions in the URM and the diplomatic service. Such statements were criticised by the ruling party, but Mr Nausėda pointed out that Mr Jansonas had shared his insights after some analysis. Later, the adviser also spoke about the need to change the selection procedure for diplomats.
The Lithuanian Ambassador to Poland, Eduardas Borisovas, was recalled on 7 September at the end of his term of office.
