Adamkus: Cabinet unlikely to survive entire term

Dec 09, 2004
By The Baltic Times

VILNIUS – President Valdas Adamkus said in an interview this week that that the government of Algirdas Brazauskas was unlikely to be willing to serve the entire four-year term.

Adamkus told the Lietuvos Rytas daily the Cabinet, which was confirmed by Parliament on Tuesday, was unlikely to last. “I don't think it is a secret. Yet before the formation of the government, Algirdas Brazauskas had hinted to me he would like to work ‘a few years more,’” the president said.

Asked about the difficulty for someone who begins leading a fragile government, Adamkus said that “it should be ascertained what ‘a few years’ means in Algirdas Brazauskas’ vocabulary.”

“Maybe ‘a few’ means three or even four years for him,” the president said.

Brazauskas, a Social Democrat, headed the previous Cabinet for three and a half years – the longest serving government since the country regained independence in 1990.

Asked whether the government could survive without Brazauskas, 72, the president said, “I think political parties would readjust to new conditions and would find the best solution.”

Parliamentary Speaker Arturas Paulauskas rebuked the president for revealing what he described as “behind-the-scenes conversations.” “I don't know whether one should publicize and speak about behind-the-scenes conversations between two people,” Paulauskas said after a meeting with Adamkus on Wednesday.

As far as Brazauskas' “plans” to head the Cabinet for “a few years,” Paulauskas said he had heard different statements on Tuesday. “The prime minister made a different statement – I believe the government can work all four years,” Paulauskas said.

The new Cabinet includes the Labor Party, the Social Democratic Party, the New Union (Social Liberals) and the Union of Farmers and New Democracy Parties.

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