Kubilius: Poroshenko advisory council works only "theoretically"

According to Lithuania’s opposition leader and former Prime Minister, Andrius Kubilius, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's advisory council works only in theory. 

In addition to his duties in the Lithuanian Seimas (parliament) Kubilius is also a member of the Poroshenko advisory council.

"President Poroshenko's advisory council works very theoretically as it has not held any meetings,” Kubilius told the Seimas commission on September 23, 2015. “Secondly, in my opinion, even if the council really worked, it would be similar to a seminar - we don’t have any working relations, we don’t have any duties, and a seminar is when you invite experienced people to advise you on the resolution of one or the other problem.”

Under the Lithuanian constitution, the duties of a Seimas member, with the exception of his duties at the Seimas, are incompatible with any other duties at state institutions and organisations as well as with work in business, commercial and other private establishments or enterprises.

Lithuanian Labor Party MP, Mecislovas Zasciurinskas, has asked the Seimas Commission for the Ethics and Procedures to evaluate Kubilius’ appointment as a Poroshenko advisor and rule whether his appointment does not run counter to the Lithuanian Constitution.

Asked by the ethics watchdog whether he had signed any contract regarding his work in the council, Kubilius said that there are no "contracts, salaries, work, or activity."

Poroshenko set up the advisory council in May 2015 and its members, besides Kubilius, includeex-Swedish Foreign Minister, Karl Bildt, ex-Slovakian Prime Minister, Mikulas Dzurinda, Swedish economist, Anders Aslund, U.S. Senator John McCain, ex-Georgian President, Mikheil Saakashvili.