VILNIUS - Denmark's ambassador to Lithuania has said the Baltic state should concentrate on the rule of law and cracking down on corruption if the country wants to improve its reputation and remain competitive.
"The problem with the primacy of the law does exist in Lithuania, and policymakers should be concerned with it if they wish Lithuania to be competitive," Laurids Mikaelsen said.
Speaking at an international conference in Vilnius, Mikaelson, who was appointed to the post last year, said that the Danes have had encounters with the vagaries of Lithuania's rule of law 's or lack thereof.
"We have had a personal experience that a local authority in Lithuania may ignore a decision of the Chief Administrative Court, and we cannot understand such a situation," he said.
To illustrate his point, Mikaelson explained the case involving a decision by the Mazeikiai municipal authority prohibiting a Danish farmer, Erwin Nissen, from expanding his pig farm.
"The chief administrative court has said clearly that the arguments of the Mazeikiai local authority were insufficient to substantiate such a decision. However, the court's ruling was ignored. On top of that, Lithuania's media said in reports that the court's decision was favorable for the local authority," the ambassador was quoted by the Baltic News Service as saying.
The actions of the local authority contradicted the legislation in effect and its arguments were illegal, he added.
"However, despite the court's decision, despite the compromise, which Denmark's entrepreneur put forward to the local authority immediately thereafter, nothing has changed," he said.
"The impression is that the effect of Lithuania's legislation is not identical for all, which is not a good sign for business," he added.
Mikaelsen, who was born in China after World War II and was ambassador to the Asian country for three years, said he has notified all foreign diplomats residing in Lithuania about those problems.
"Lithuania's prime minister claims that the problem is about the perception of corruption and not about corruption. However, the perception does not come out of nothing. I get Lithuania's press reviews every day, and I can see clearly from them that corruption in Lithuania is not just a problem of perception," Mikaelsen said.
As he explained, the perception of corruption has emerged from the media and experience, so Lithuanians will have to work hard to overcome the problem.
According to the data published by Transparency International last fall, in 2007 the Corruption Perceptions Index in Lithuania comprised 4.8 points, the same as in 2001, 2002, 2005 and 2006.
Lithuania ranked 51st among 180 countries, failing to fall into the category of countries capable to reining in corruption (which have more than 5 points).
Kirkilas slammed the results, saying that the index failed to reflect the actual situation. He claimed that the government's work was transparent. In the fall of 2006 the government leader promised to resign if the CPI in Lithuania failed to improve over a year.
But as Mikaelsen said, "The legislation shall have identical effect for all, and your task is to guarantee that."
