Lithuania’s President; ‘NATO doesn’t have a defence plan for this (Baltic States) region’

As the Lithuanian President Grybauskaite admitted the NATO has no plan a defence plan for the Baltic States.  A custom NATO defence plan for the Baltic States could be expected no earlier than in two years time.

As the BNS writes, a small state has to consider a mixed model for its armed forces, not excluding a certain extent of conscription, Grybauskaite on 28 July told the press after receiving the oath of office of Lithuania’s new Army Chief Major General Arvydas Pocius.

“A little country can think and consider mixed options. Especially as NATO, as you are aware, doesn’t have a defence plan for this region, and won’t have one for another two years at the least,” Grybauskaite said.

The shape Lithuania’s army reserve could take on, i.e. whether this would require reinstating mandatory military training for Lithuania’s youth, is still the object of discussions, Grybauskaite said.

“I haven’t heard any specific proposals, meaning at this time I have nothing to discuss in this respect,” the president spoke.

The North Atlantic Alliance’s developments on a specific defence plan for the Baltic State are yet to be clearly formulated and communicated.

Source BNS

Lithuania’s great leap to the ‘dark ages’

A comment has been posted on this blog in relation to the recently adopted law on protection of minors against negative information.

“we have one more state which shares with us the Western liberal values. ”

LOL! Oh yes, please Mr Adamkus, tell us about your glorious “Western liberal values”.

http://baltictimes.com/news/articles/23212/

Doesn’t seem like the Baltic times agrees with this assessment.’

Here is what I would like to say on this issue:

I totally agree with you point and I am whole hart ashamed with this legislation, which by no any means does not correspond with the Western liberal values.  However, I would like to make few points here. 

First of all, Mr Adamkus has vetoed this legislation.  Nevertheless, Seimas with the majority votes over ruled the veto and adopted this law.  The law is not coming into effect any time soon.  From what I remember it suppose to come into force next year.

Second point is that our new President Grybauskaite has resolutely declared that she does not support this law, but regrettably she will have to sign it today.  The president will have to comply with the Constitution.

Thirdly, the Liberal movement has announced that it will initiate an appeal to the Constitutional Court, which will have to explain if the Law does not contravene with Constitution.  According to the Constitution the President could also put complain to the Constitutional Court on the same grounds.

Fourthly, the President has a Constitutional right to initiate amendments to a law.  Ms Grybauskaite mentioned that she will do just that, perhaps even during this session (the session will end on the 23 July) as Lietuvos Zinios paper wrote.

Lithuania’s society at large is still very homophobic and in majority supports this law.  However, the most upsetting circumstance in all this is that our politicians, even those who got their PhDs in Oxbridge in the UK, has also voted in favour of this law.  Instead of loosing some of its political capital by educating its electorate their confirmed with homophobic radical mullahs MPs.  This is really shocking, even though major papers but Respublika, which is homophobic, ultra nationalist, anti-Semitic, and anti everything, have condemned the law.

The EU, and the international organisations should keep condemning this act of barbaric medievalism and put a lot of pressure to the Lithuanian politicians.

Barroso agrees on the Grybauskaite’s replacement in the European Commission

As the BNS writes the Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso agrees to Lithuania’s proposal to appoint its Finance Minister Algirdas Semeta as Commissioner responsible for financial programming and budget.

“To be honest, I didn’t take part in the conversation; the two of them conversed alone. Today I exchanged a few words with Barroso, who said the candidate is suitable and all official procedures will kick off shortly” Kubilius in the late hours of Friday told members of the press after meeting with European Union (EU) leaders in Brussels.

The current EC term will be up in October, with its President Barroso aiming for a second five-year term, with backing of EU leaders.

“I am sure that will be of considerable benefit to the whole European Union and our region in particular. The commission will have a man coming straight from the hardest font line, Kubilius said in Brussels on 18 June.

“Semeta is perfectly aware of all the problems we and many other states are having. His experience and skills should prove useful in the new post as well,” he said to the BNS.

The prime minister expects that Semeta will stay in Brussels for the next five years after the term of the incumbent European Commission ends in November.

“Our region’s problems will definitely not be over by the start of the New Year. I think that Semeta should stay in the EC and be given a portfolio related to finances in one or another way,” he said.

Asked by Lietuvos Rytas if he was not afraid of taking up the post in Brussels in which Grybauskaite had shone so brightly, Semeta said, “I am used to working anywhere where there is work to be done. After that work we have done in Lithuania in the past half-year, I am no longer afraid of anything.”

Asked by Lietuvos Rytas if he was not afraid of taking up the post in Brussels in which Grybauskaite had shone so brightly, Semeta said, “I am used to working anywhere where there is work to be done. After that work we have done in Lithuania in the past half-year, I am no longer afraid of anything.”

It needs to be reminded that this is the second time as the Finance Minister of Lithuania for Semeta.  He was running Lithuania’s finance from 1997 to 1999.  Especially in 1999 Lithuania was experiencing the worst effects of the Russian financial meltdown of 1998.

Grybauskaite confirms Lithuanian Minister of Finance as her successor in EC

As most of the Lithuanian media outlets informed Lithuania’s president-elect Dalia Grybauskaite has confirmed Finance Minister Algirdas Semeta as her successor and Lithuania’s new European Commissioner. “The future will show how he manages. It is essential for Lithuania to retain the current EU financial programming and budget chief mandate,” Grybauskaite on Monday told the press.

Grybauskaite went on to mention Lithuania’s Ministry of Finance Undersecretary Ingrida Simonyte as a candidate to replace the finance minister.

Kubilius, on the other hand told journalists on Sunday that had has a conversation with the EC president Borrosso but refused to reveal the name of the candidate. “I agreed with Barroso that the information is confidential,” the prime minister told journalists. Nevertheless, Kubilius will be accompanied by Finance Minister Algirdas Semeta to the European Council’s meeting on Wednesday, however, refused to say whether the minister would be proposed for the EC writes the BNS.

The speculations of possible Semeta’s ‘exile’ to the Brussels began after Grybauskaite won Lithuania’s presidential race. Semeta was Grybauskaite’s choice even though PM Kubilius was maintaining that Mr Semeta is needed more in Vilnius than in the Brussels. Mr Semeta is known as not only a good Kubiliu’s friend but one of the most trustworthy Cabinet members. Mr Kubilius regards his friend Semeta as a financial genius, almost irreplaceable during this crisis.

Lithuania might cut its state budget further, and Grybauskaite is already giving orders to Lithuanian authorities

On June 2 the Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said that the government might have to take further steps in order to reduce the state budget deficit amid the country’s worsening economic forecasts.

“We cannot say that the economic decline has stopped already. The Bank of Lithuania’s forecasts show that the economy may contract by up to 15%, which means that revenues will decline more than we projected and that the deficit can be higher than 5% — it can reach nearly 7%,” Kubilius told the Public Radio.

He said the government could have to take additional measures to keep the deficit within its 5% target.

The BNS written that in its latest forecasts published in May, the central Bank of Lithuania predicted that the economy would slump by 15.6% this year. The Finance Ministry forecast in late March a 10.5% GDP contraction for this year.

Lithuania’s president-elect Dalia Grybauskaite has said recently that budget spending should not be cut if the deficit is kept within 5%.

Grybauskaite, who arrived to Lithuania from Brussels via Riga as an economy-class passenger and pledged to fly economy class at least in Europe even after the inauguration, gave some tasks to the Lithuanian Parliament and the Lithuanian Government until the Spring session will end on 30 June.

“I hope that the government comes up with a package of tax amendments, that is those amendments, which have not been fully tackled since December – in the areas of small, mid-scale business, in particular SoDra [social insurance fund], health insurance other taxes, as early as in June. I really want to believe that this will be done,” Grybauskaite told reporters after the meeting with Prime Minister Kubilius.

“The European Commission shall be notified by July who specifically will implement the Swedlink project,” president-elect said.

Speaking about potential nationalization of the national energy company Leo LT she reiterated that the company should be broken up.  “I support as quick break-up of this combination as possible and implementation of all strategic projects by a public company. This is my position in principle and, as I understand, the government agrees so far. What still remains is just the options and ways how this should be done,” Grybauskaite said to the BNS.

EU shouldn’t leave members in solitary scramble with Russia for energy supply –Gybauskaite, Lithuania’s president-elect

As the BNS writes Lithuania’s president-elect Dalia Grybauskaite feels the European Union (EU) shouldn’t leave it up to solitary states to struggle with Russia for energy supply.

“We would like the EU to speak in one voice on energy supplies and not leave separate states alone in their battle with Russia,” Grybauskaite on Thursday told Latvian public radio.

Asked about the most critical issues in relations with Russia, the Lithuanian president-elect said at the EU level relations between all member states and Russia had grown more complicated due to disagreements on energy supplies, developments in Georgia last August and in Ukraine last winter.

While agreeing that Vilnius and Moscow share many a disagreement, Grybauskaite noted that both countries must pursue constructive dialogue and avoid previously eminent irritating rhetoric.

“If our neighbours, especially Russia, are ready to cooperate, I will be highly interested in responding with the same. I will seek respectful, balanced cooperation, but without selling out Lithuanian values, and avoiding offensive rhetoric,” Lithuania’s president-elect spoke.

Her first foreign visits will have “no symbolic significance”, said Grybauskaite, noting she will put Lithuania’s interests above everything else.

The Russian president Dmitri Medvedev has sent an official letter on 27 May in which he wished her the best of luck.

“I hope your activity while in office will contribute to developing Lithuania-Russia relations in the spirit of good neighbourhood and interpersonal understanding, also to the well-being of both of our nations and the continued guest for enhancing security and stability in Europe and around the globe,” Medvedev wrote.

Lithuania’s president-elect Dalia Grybauskaite today will pick up her Presidential ID card and her inauguration is scheduled for July 12.

Grybauskaite says that Lithuania’s government will have to heed her word

Few Lithuanian commentators doubted the Lithuania’s president-elect resolve to influence the internal Lithuania’s politics.  According to them the Lithuania’s Constitution limits the powers of the Lithuania’s president a lot.  As Kestutis Girinius mentioned in Lietuvos Zinios daily, it is wrong to call Ms Grybauskaite and Iron Lady and compare her to Thatcher.  Thatcher was the British Prime Minister, and Ms Grybauskaite will be Lithuania’s President with very different set of powers.

However, the in the Veidas weekly magazine Lithuania’s president-elect Dalia Grybauskaite has rebuffed talks that her bid to do some reshuffling in the Cabinet may go counter to the country’s Constitution.

The government will have to hear her word, Grybauskaite repeated, saying that ministers who fail to provide a vision or convince her of their capacity to take things into their hands when the going gets tough will no longer be able to continue their work in the government.

“No, I don’t think it does (goes counter to the Constitution). I’ll mull this over with the prime minister, and put into use not just all legitimate powers vested in me, but my authority as well,” Grybauskaite said in an interview to Veidas weekly.

The president-elect assured that the incumbent finance, social security and labour, economy and energy ministers can stay on as long as they get their ‘homework’ done.

“I have no problem with them. I mentioned not the individuals themselves, but the specific domains, which proved most complicated in Lithuania amid the downturn. They require much attention, knowledge and competence. All the confusion and turmoil regarding taxes for small and medium sized businesses, Sodra (the State Social Insurance Fund Board), health insurance and others needs to be cleared up in the immediate future. If that gets done, and I see that ministers comprehend the complexity of the situation at hand, and are capable to react accordingly, I will by no means care to replace them,” Grybauskaite said to the magazine and the BNS writes.

The president-elect also went on to say she disagrees that her plans to take a more active role in domestic policy, especially in supervising government activity, is in itself a key to a conflict between three governing bodies, i.e. the President’s Office, the government and the Seimas, as foreshadowed by some political scientists.

“All will depend on politicians themselves, lets leave the need to create bubbles to some political scientists and some of the press. And I repeat: I am ready to work hand in hand and pursue compromise, to summon, not fight,” Grybauskaite said.

The future president of Lithuania again reiterated her being point-blank against the established national investor Leo LT and said it was necessary to find the most economic means of disassembling it.

“I think this was the ugliest example of oligarchy and for this reason alone it must be ousted from Lithuania even regardless of what costs it will ensue. Of course, we need to find the most economic means of splitting up, but I think a private partner should well understand that after a blow as harsh as the one that hit both them and the state it’s best to separate on good terms,” she said.

Grybauskaite said she was expecting to hear decisions on Leo LT during her first day in office, namely July 12.

Lithuania’s former President has cancer

One of the last remaining political Mohican of Lithuania, Mr Brazauskas has admitted to the Lietuvos Rytas daily that he is suffering from the lymphatic node cancer.  The former President, Prime Minister and honorary chairman of the Lithuania’s Social Democrat Party, the last First Secretary of the Lithuania’s Communist Party was informed about his condition on December. 

As the paper reports Mr Brazauskas has undergone four chemotherapy sessions, however, even though the cancer development has stabilised the healing is not happening either.  Mr Brazauskas, who is 76, was advised to undertake an aggressive treatment and is on the hormone treatment currently.  ‘As you see my face is swallowed, I have to take some forty tablets of prednizol a day.’

It was an open secret that Mr Brazauskas was gravely ill.  Media speculated that he was treated from the prostate cancer few years earlier, apparently successfully.  Ms Grybauskaite, Lithuania’s President elect was a Minister of Finance in the Brazauskas’ cabinet before she was delegated to the EU Commission.

Grybauskaite; new EU Members don’t need a preferential treatment to adopt Euro, Lithuanian will not seek the IMF help and could exceed its budged deficit

The European Union’s new member states should use the economic crisis to make essential reforms – rather than beg for international assistance, Lithuania’s President-elect and the EU budget commissioner Dalia Grybauskaite said to the Financial Times today.

“This is a very good turning point for people to change to new realities,” she told the Financial Times in comments that contrast sharply with the demands of governments in the region. “Now is a perfect chance to clear away business obstacles and make a lot of structural reforms.”

Grybauskaite noted that the European Commission and the European Central Bank had already done enough to help.  Moreover, she believes that new member states should not be granted special treatment, such as softer criteria to adopt the euro or easier access to ECB liquidity, as this could blunt their incentive to reform.

“No, I don’t want to relax the [euro] criteria,” she said. “Already our politicians have been too relaxed . . . The criteria are a framework for responsible behaviour.” She added: “I don’t think that someone else should pay for the irresponsible fiscal policy in the new member states.”

Grybauskaite believes that Lithuania should be able to solve its problems without seeking help from the IMF, unlike when Lithuania was hit by the 1998 Russian financial crisis, during which time she was deputy finance minister.  “If Lithuania – with a 5% budget deficit – can refinance its debts, we don’t need to apply,” she said to the Financial Times today. “If external markets deteriorate and we cannot refinance our debts, then we will apply.”

Ms Grybauskaite believes Lithuania should maintain its currency board until it adopts the euro and that the government should set a target date, with entry in 2012-15 “quite realistic”.

To succeed, the government needs to keep the budget deficit under control as tax revenues shrink but Ms Grybauskaite warns against further deep expenditure cuts – particularly in welfare payments – at a time when popular discontent is growing, as shown by riots in the capital Vilnius in January.

“I am worried about future cuts,” she says. “Before we decide on future cuts we must be very careful.

“A 5 per cent budget deficit is not dangerous for an economy falling by between 10 to 15 per cent.”

It is more important, she believes, for the government to focus on long-delayed structural reforms to boost the economy writes the Financial Times.

Lithuania’s Electric Organisation, the Leo LT is in deep trouble

Lithuania’s Electric Organisation or Leo LT is in serious trouble.  Leo LT was set up to build electricity links from Lithuania to Poland and Sweden, as well as to construct a new nuclear power plant.  The Leo LT was created by uniting the private and the state owned electricity redistribution grids.

This creation took place during the reign of the Social Democrat party and mainly preserved as a project, which benefited only the private investor and lacks transparency, especially during its creation period.  The project is discredited in the eyes of public and was called by the President-elect Grybauskaite as the paramount manifestation of the oligarchic rule in Lithuania.  The Conservative government is left with this ‘marriage’ and will have to deal with it as soon as possible.  This week saw an open admission by the PM Kubilius that the Leo LT will be dismantled.

As the BNS writes any decision on liquidation of Leo LT cannot be too hasty or irresponsible so as to prevent private shareholder Vilniaus Prekyba from making any profit on such a move, Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius believes.

Next week the government would consider the conclusions of the task group, which were submitted on 25 May, he added.

“We have accepted those conclusions and now will wait till the next week when we will consider them at the government meeting. However, if taking the breakdown way, we have to consider possible consequences, that NDX Energija, or, to be more precise, Vilniaus Prekyba may profit on such a breakdown if we act carelessly or irresponsibly,” Kubilius said in an interview to the public radio station Lietuvos Radijas (Lithuanian Radio) on 21 May.

The task group headed by Energy Minister Arvydas Sekmokas had submitted conclusions as to what measures should be avoided, he said.

As the BNS writes Sekmokas said on 18 May that the shareholder structure of Lithuania’s national energy company Leo LT, which was considered unfavourable to the government, would be reviewed in three months and proposals on further operations of Leo LT would be submitted. Simultaneously, efforts would be made to avoid any measures that could enable the small shareholder to apply to international arbitration.

Meanwhile, president-elect Dalia Grybauskaite stated that the period of three months was too long to decide the fate of Leo LT. In her opinion, “moral damage has been inflicted and decisions shall be taken faster”.  Lithuania’s president-elect Dalia Grybauskaite on 18 May said that decisions on winding up Leo LT should be accelerated.

Energy Minister Arvydas Sekmokas said on 21 May that scenarios on Leo LT fate would be submitted to the president-elect on her first working day in office (Grybauskaite will be inaugurated on 12 July).

The shareholder structure of Lithuania’s national energy company Leo LT will be reviewed in three months and proposals on further operations of Leo LT will be submitted.

Simultaneously, efforts will be made to avoid any measures that could enable the small shareholder to apply to international arbitration, Sekmokas has said.

“Leo LT has been established in a way adverse to the state, which has found itself in a rather complicated situation. No measures have been taken to prevent making unjustified profits on Leo LT operations and we will remedy this shortcoming via relevant legislative amendments,” Sekmokas told the reporters after the meeting with Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius.

Moreover, BNS reported, measures should be taken to prevent any losses of the state if the small shareholder of Leo LT opted to address arbitration, he added.

“A task group is ready to review the establishment of the company, the proportions assigned for the shareholders, that is the distribution of shares based on property contributions, whether the method of establishment was right, and it will need sufficient time to do that,” Sekmokas said.

Moreover, the task group would examine whether the establishment of the company complied with the European Union (EU) Third electricity directive, which provided for the unbundling of transmission from distribution and generation.

The breakdown of Leo LT had not been proposed in the meantime, Sekmokas said. “The continuity of Leo LT will be projected with due regard to the requirements of the third package.”

BNS noted that Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius also sounded cautious when speaking about potential breakdown of Leo LT. Property contributions of both parties would be assessed in the first place, he said.

He also noted the importance of finding an answer how Lithuania would implement the Third EU electricity directive together with Latvia and Estonia.  “When discussing the fate of Leo LT we have to know how we will implement the third package, and it would be good if we implemented it in the same way as the Latvians and the Estonians”, he said.

On the other hand the BNS writes that Lithuania’s President Valdas Adamkus maintains that the statements about plans to break up the national energy company Leo LT are political games and populism.

“Any announcements are further politicising. They are playing games now. All the elections are over but it seems to me that the populist announcements continue,” Adamkus told journalists on 21 May.

In his opinion, the country’s administration should make a clear-cut decision whether Lithuania wants to have a nuclear facility or its own or not and ensure foreign partners that the decision is in place.

“The best solution now is for the future president; the government and I present the political decision to the public and the Seimas. It is enough of the political and party games,” said the Lithuanian president whose tenure is to expire in July.

Asked whether he approved of Leo LT liquidation, he said: “No liquidation, not by any matter of means.”