Lithuanian govt nominates Kubilius for Council of Europe's secgen

VILNIUS - The Lithuanian government on Thursday decided to nominate Andrius Kubilius, a former conservative prime minister, for the position of secretary general of the Council of Europe, Finance Minister Vilius Sapoka has confirmed.

The Council of Europe's secretary general is elected for a term of five years during a vote by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and candidates are nominated by the Committee of Ministers, picked out of candidates nominated by one or several member states' governments.

Kubilius, as a candidate, has been discussed by the European People's Party (EPP), a transnational political group whose members include the Homeland Union - Lithuanian Christian Democrats (HU-LCD).

Kubilius, who is currently a HU-LCD member of the Seimas, served as Lithuania's prime minister in 1999 to 2000 and in 2008 to 2012.

Thorbjorn Jagland, a former Norwegian prime minister, currently serves as the secretary general of the Council of Europe. His second five-year term will end next year.