Lithuanian president welcomes PM's resignation as 'right decision'

MEDININKAI - Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda on Thursday welcomed Gintautas Paluckas' decision to resign as prime minister, describing the step as the only right choice.

"I gave him time to reflect, first and foremost as a person, to weigh all the circumstances, and I believe he made the only right decision, took the opportunity, and I welcome his decision," Nauseda told reporters.

The president said the prime minister informed him of his decision to step down on Thursday morning.

"Gintautas Paluckas called me this morning and informed me of his resignation," he said.

Paluckas has yet to submit his official resignation from the post he has held since mid-December.

According to the president, consultations will now begin on forming a new ruling coalition and government.

Under the Constitution, the entire Cabinet must step down along with the prime minister.

Since Paluckas is named as prime minister in the current center-left coalition agreement, a new agreement will also need to be negotiated.

Nauseda emphasized that the ruling majority will be formed by the Social Democrats.

"None of the fundamentals are changing. The Lithuanian Social Democratic Party, which won the last parliamentary election and holds a majority in the Seimas, will begin consultations on possible coalition arrangements," he said.

The president added that it was too early to discuss who could become the next prime minister, especially as there is still no formal resignation letter.

"We want to jump from A straight to Z, but there are a lot of letters in between. (...) Today, it's clear that it's time to start talking about it. There are several candidates who could fully take on the role of prime minister," Nauseda said.

"Of course, I will request all possible and impossible information from the relevant services so that such things do not happen again and that we have a comprehensive picture and even detect potential risks. Even if there are no obvious facts today. Allowing instability in the state right now would be especially irresponsible," he added.

Commenting on the performance of Paluckas' Cabinet, Nauseda said most ministers have been working successfully and have a clear vision and program for their areas of responsibility.

"I would really like them to stay on, but I'm not going to start naming names yet, because first we need to agree on what the new coalition will look like. You can't have a minister from a party that's not part of the ruling. That's just basic politics," he said.

Paluckas announced his resignation amid two pre-trial investigations into his business dealings and controversy surrounding his involvement in business, ties to certain businesspeople and failure to pay damages owed to the Vilnius municipality.