Lithuanian PM set to present ministerial candidates to president this week

  • 2019-08-05
  • BNS/TBT Staff

VILNIUS – Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis is set to present to President Gitanas Nauseda candidates for ministers in a new government.

After the previous Skvernelis government returned its powers to the newly elected president, Nauseda re-appointed Skvernelis as prime minister on Jul 24.

Since then, the prime minister has 15 days to form a new Cabinet and present it to the president.

The new coalition agreement has been signed by the ruling Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union, the Social Democratic Labor Party of Lithuania, the Order and Justice party and the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania – Christian Families Alliance, and the parties plan to replace three ministers, including those of interior, transport and agriculture.

It already been said in public that EAPL-CFA representatives Jaroslav Narkevic, Vladislav Kondratovic and SDLP representative Andrius Palionis are proposed for these positions.

As the president prepares to endorse the new government, he met with Palionis, Health Minister Aurelijus Veryga, Social Security and Labor Minister Linas Kukuraitis and Finance Minister Vilius Sapika last week.

Despite his pre-election pledge to resign if he lost the president election, Skvernelis started forming a new government, calling his previous statements "emotional".

The country's leaders are now also looking into the legal details of the process as the if at least two ministers are replaced, the new government will have to test confidence in it in the parliament.