„This is probably a logical step, but it is late,“ Skvernelis told reporters on Thursday.
„This step is positive because it opens up other opportunities for cooperation, but now the question is what our Social Democrat colleagues will do. Yesterday, they drew some lines for us, although it seems to me that this morning all the lines have been crossed,“ he continued.
According to the Speaker of the Seimas, the current coalition agreement should cease to be valid because it mentions explicitly Paluckas as prime minister.
„The coalition agreement should, at least as far as I understand, cease to be valid because the coalition agreement contains a specific name,“ he said.
Skvernelis also said that he would not shed any tears if he were not reappointed to the post of Speaker of the Seimas.
„I did not plan to be Speaker of the Seimas, it just happened that way. So, if I am not, I will not shed a tear. I am simply a member of the Seimas, and maybe it will be better that way,“ he said.
He insists he is not setting conditions for a coalition
Skvernelis also stated that the Democratic Union Vardan Lietuvos (In the Name of Lithuania) party, which he leads, is not currently setting any conditions for a coalition. According to him, it is now up to the Social Democrats themselves to decide on their new party leader.
„We are not setting any conditions. Simply, when the Social Democrats decide who will be their leader and potential prime minister, then they will decide who to invite into the coalition. If we are invited, we will talk; if we are not, we will not talk,“ he said.
The politician said he could not name anyone he would see as the new head of government. However, he stressed that if the Democrats were invited back into the coalition, it would be essential to know who would replace Paluckas.
„I am not suggesting anything. This is a decision for the Social Democratic Party. In any case, if we are invited to discuss future cooperation, the candidate is very important. This story has demonstrated that the selection of a prime minister must be a highly responsible process. We would like to know who will be the prime minister if we are in the game,“ he said.
„And who will be the ministers, because that is also very important,“ added the Speaker of the Seimas.
No speculation on whether he will join a coalition with Nemuno Aušra
Skvernelis also said he did not want to speculate on whether he would work with Nemuno Aušra, whose presence in the alliance he had strongly criticised.
„I don't want to speculate. I simply said yesterday that the decision was very difficult.
I think that in this case it would be even more difficult. But it's not up to me alone to decide. This is our community, which sent a clear message last week; perhaps not everyone heard it. I voiced it, and maybe it needed to be repeated yesterday,“ he said.
„But those decisions were already visible last week, because what was reported in the media about the possible misappropriation of European funds is a classic scheme, where the Financial Crime Investigation Service (FNTT) is probably investigating thousands of such cases,“ said the politician.
As previously announced, Paluckas promised to decide on whether to remain prime minister or answer all the questions raised against him within two weeks. This period was suggested to him by President Gitanas Nausėda. The Prime Minister Paluckas said he would provide answers after assessing the situation during a two-week vacation.
Paluckas began his vacation with the support of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party, which he leads. Last week, the LSDP praesidium expressed its confidence in Paluckas, and party leaders claimed that a systematic attack was being carried out against the prime minister.
Tension grew within his ruling majority. Saulius Skvernelis, Chairman of the Democratic Union Vardan Lietuvos, a member of the coalition, stated that if the prime minister did not step down, his party would withdraw from the ruling coalition.
As reported by ELTA, over the past couple of months, new journalistic investigations have appeared in the public domain about Paluckas and his past, business connections, and suspicious transactions.
At the end of May, the investigative journalism centre Siena and Laisvės TV reported that Garnis, a company partly owned by the prime minister, had received a preferential loan of EUR 200,000 from the national development bank ILTE while Paluckas was already serving as prime minister.
The second part of the investigation by Siena and Laisvės TV raised questions about loans worth hundreds of thousands of euros that Sagerta, a company that developed a lake bottom topography application managed by the head of government, received and did not repay before 2018. In addition, it was reported that in 2012, the future prime minister purchased a home worth EUR 223,000 from a company led by businessman Darijus Vilčinskas. In addition, it was reported that in 2012, the future prime minister purchased a home worth EUR 223,000 in the Verkių Regional Park in the capital from a company headed by the businessman. Although Paluckas denied having any business relations with Vilčinskas, the latter later admitted to Verslo žinios that he had invested in the Social Democrat's company.
A third investigation soon followed, with Siena and Laisvės TV discovering that in 2012, a Cypriot company sold Paluckas a flat in the centre of the capital at a bargain price on a plot of land that the politician himself had formed while serving as director of the Vilnius City Municipality Administration.
Finally, on Sunday, it emerged that just a few weeks ago, G. Paluckas had paid the last EUR 4,900 of the EUR 16,500 in damages awarded to Vilnius City Council in the so-called „rat case“ in 2012. The politician paid the last EUR 4,900 of the EUR 16,500 awarded to Vilnius City Municipality on July 8 this year.
Journalists from the Redakcija channel also reported on Paluckas' past. The investigation noted that in 2009, the Social Democratic leader acquired a plot of land on Laurų Street in Vilnius, which, as the court later ruled, was illegally privatised state-owned forest. In addition, the plot was formed for the restoration of property lost by people during the Soviet era, but soon fell into the hands of the prime minister and Genovaitė Arlauskienė.
Finally, public figure Andrius Tapinas reported that Dankora, a company founded just last year by Virginija Paluckienė, the sister-in-law of Prime Minister Paluckas, received European funding, most of which was spent on purchases from Garnis, a company partly owned by the prime minister.
The Financial Crime Investigation Service (FNTT) is conducting a pre-trial investigation into the use of the ILTE loan received by Garnis, and the Supreme Ethics Commission (VTEK) is also assessing the situation. The Special Investigation Service (STT) is investigating the circumstances of the second investigation.
Meanwhile, the opposition in the Seimas is already collecting signatures to call an extraordinary session, during which it cannot be ruled out that impeachment proceedings against Paluckas may be initiated.