„One clear thing is the lack of experience in this specific and important area. (...) The whole saga surrounding the appointment of the minister shows the Social Democrats' desire to experiment and their lack of responsibility in this critical area,“ commented Čmilytė-Nielsen, who works with Kaunas in the Seimas National Security and Defence Committee (NSGK), on Žinių radijas.
Dovilė Šakalienė, who was previously dismissed from her position as minister, said that one of the current deputy ministers could take over her work at the Ministry of National Defence.
According to the Liberal, such a decision by the Social Democrats – to appoint one of the deputy ministers as head of the Ministry of National Defence – would be much more logical.
„This would have somewhat balanced and stabilised the area, which is now the basis of everything. In the context of the budget debate, we see a record defence budget. And now the Social Democrats are proposing a person who has worked for exactly one month at the NSGK to be responsible for a budget of almost EUR 5 billion for the defence sector,“ said the Liberal.
After Šakalienė left her post, only one deputy minister, Tomas Godliauskas, remained in the political team. According to Čmilytė-Nielsen, the dismissal of the deputy ministers shows the Social Democrats' unwillingness to appoint non-party candidates to these positions.
„The deputy ministers who were in charge of ongoing projects and matters related to the reception of the German Brigade, infrastructure projects, and division affairs were quietly dismissed from their jobs. This means that the way has been cleared for party candidates, but essentially, the way has been cleared for completely new people,“ she emphasised.
As announced, following Thursday's board and praesidium meetings, the Social Democrats decided to nominate party member Robertas Kaunas for the position of Minister of National Defence.
ELTA reminds us that the position of head of the Ministry of National Defence (MND) became vacant after Dovilė Šakalienė, who was involved in disputes with the prime minister over defence funding, was dismissed from her post last week.
The position of Minister of National Defence is currently being filled on an interim basis by Minister of the Interior Vladislavas Kondratovičius.
Čmilytė-Nielsen calls for renewal of party agreement on defence: it was a mistake not to do so
Liberal Movement leader Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen believes the ruling parties made a mistake by failing to renew the parliamentary parties' agreement on defence policy. According to the politician, this issue needs to be revisited immediately.
„Concentration is essential in the field of national defence. This does not mean the opposition will not point out the actions we consider mistakes. This must be done; it is one of the opposition's tasks. But we, the liberals, both during the election campaign (...) and at the beginning of the new term, strongly urged the ruling parties to sit down at the table to renew the national agreement on defence,“ Čmilytė-Nielsen told Žinių Radijas on Friday.
„This would be a format for discussing fundamental issues together. I still believe that it was a mistake not to do so at the time. We need to return to this now,“ she said.
At the end of September, Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė announced that she would initiate discussions on a new parliamentary party agreement on defence.
ELTA recalls that the parliamentary parties signed the defence agreement in July 2022. The document sets out three key areas of activity: strengthening the Lithuanian army and international security and defence guarantees, preparing the state for armed defence, and responding to hybrid attacks. The agreement is expected to remain in force until 2030.
At the beginning of this term, discussions began about renewing the defence agreement, but ultimately no progress was made.