Kubilius better EC candidate than Landsbergis, but not the best – Lithuania's opposition

VILNIUS – Ex-Prime Minister and now MEP Andrius Kubilius is a better candidate for Lithuania's European commissioner than Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis but he is not the best choice for Lithuania, the country's opposition say.

"Everyone in Lithuania knows Andrius Kubilius, and opinions about him are mixed because many people still remember the overnight reforms carried out by his government, the various optimizations and so on," MEP Vilija Blinkeviciute, the leader of the opposition Lithuanian Social Democratic Party, told reporters at the Seimas on Monday.

"However, we must admit that Andrius is quite an experienced politician. I think that he would be fit to perform the duties of an European commissioner properly, and I wish him to be a commissioner for the whole of Lithuania, not for individual Lithuanians, and for the whole of the European Union, taking responsibility for the area for which he will be nominated and the responsibility he will be entrusted with," the Social Democrat leader added.

She couldn’t say yet whether her party representatives in the Seimas would back Kubilius, but pointed out that there was no time to waste.

Saulius Skvernelis, the leader of the Democrats "For Lithuania", believes Kubilius is a better and stronger candidate in terms of political weight.

On the other hand, Skvernelis is not sure whether his political group in the parliament will also support this candidate.

"We have not discussed it yet, but if we look at it through the prism of domestic politics, it is difficult to expect that support. If we look at the overall picture of what the candidate could achieve, I think that there will no longer be a portfolio of any significance. We are probably talking about enlargement, so it would be an assistant to Kallas," Skvernelis said.

Kaja Kallas, a former Estonian prime minister, is the candidate to become the European Union's foreign policy chief.

Ramunas Karbauskis, the leader of the opposition Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union, told BNS that the search for Lithuania's EC candidate has clearly demonstrated the ruling Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats hopelessness.

"The HU-LCD are so desperate that they are forced to recall people from their political retirement. I hope the portfolio will not be troublesome", the politician told BNS.

Meanwhile, Jonas Pinskus, the elder of the Lithuanian Regions Party political group in the Seimas, told BNS that the group would definitely not support Kubilius.

"This simply shows that the HU-LCD have problems when it comes to candidates for responsible posts. They chose Kubilius out of desperation as he's a MEP in office," he said.

Landsbergis, who was previously seen as the party's top choice for the position, proposed Kubilius as an alternative candidate after failing to receive President Gitanas Nauseda's backing for his own nomination.

Kubilius was re-elected to the European Parliament for a second term earlier this year.

The former prime minister, who has served as a MEP since 2019, is a strong advocate for closer ties between the EU and the Eastern Partnership countries, increased support for Ukraine, and a tougher stance toward the Kremlin.