VILNIUS - Valdas Adamkus this week commemorated his 100-day milestone as president of Lithuania, receiving praise for his achievement in foreign politics and restoring the country's image, which was perceived to have suffered after the prolonged scandal involving his predecessor, Rolandas Paksas.
Experts, however, had little to say about the president's involvement in internal politics and even raised doubts as to his team's competence.
Adamkus, who lost his re-election campaign to Paksas in the beginning of 2003 but returned to office after the latter was impeached, remarked that the 100 days of his second term have been rather different than the first.
"I still remember the tension in the beginning of the first candidacy. Uncertainty was ahead, and I kept thinking what relations with the Seimas (Lithuania's parliament) would be like, and how people would react to my moves while I tackled the matters of the state," he told the Lietuvos Rytas daily.
"Today it is much calmer because I understand perfectly what I am doing, what goals are expected in the future, what is beneficial to the country, and what is needed for the lives of people to improve. This helps me feel stronger today than on the first 100-day anniversary," he said.
After the turbulent period following the removal of Paksas, the state longed for someone stable and respected. Adamkus returned to the Presidential Palace, which was somewhat different than when he had left. The moral foundation of the president's institution was trampled on and in need of recovery.
As media reviewer Virginijus Savukynas said, "Paksas' presidency shifted the confidence in the institution to negative levels and Adamkus has helped to regain public sympathies."
More importantly Adamkus broke the international isolation that silently continued after the inception of the Paksas scandal last autumn. A few foreign politicians had called off visits to Lithuania because of the crisis, and Paksas himself was invited nowhere.
During the three months in office Adamkus has received two official visits from foreign presidents - the president of Estonia and Georgia - and been abroad on several occasions.
"There are positive changes in foreign politics, and there's an intention to revive formerly weak relations with foreign countries," said Vygandas Paulikas, a professor in the political science department of Vilnius Law University.
"In Western countries Adamkus is known as a politician with strong sympathies for the West. It is quite eloquent that Adamkus did not choose Georgia for one of his first visits abroad as his predecessor did, but rather New York," Savukynas said.
However, political analysts are blaming Adamkus for sidestepping his promises. During the pre-election campaign he promised to visit people in the province more frequently, yet now he is a rare guest in distant Kulturos namai, a common gathering place for politicians to meet up with people in the periphery.
"The president should be touring the country more often, meeting up with people - as Uspaskich does. We are in need of counterweight against Uspaskich, and the president could be a big contrast," Vytautas Dumbliauskas, a political scientist and professor at the International Relations and Political Science Institute, said. "While not naming his preferences in the election, and with his intellectual potential, the president could spread true values that could help in the disentangling from Uspaskich."
At the same time, it is believed that Adamkus' team has been hampered by the parliamentary election, since revealing his position on issues could be interpreted as interference in the electoral process. Still, some political analysts are raising their eyebrows at some of the inexperienced advisers in the president's office.
"The team is young and new. It isn't experienced enough, and perhaps it does not yet manage to cover all informative sources," said Antanas Kulakauskas, director of Vytauto Didziojo University's Political Science and Diplomacy Institute.
If they continue to learn, the true potency of the team will show off in the near future, he added.
One of the political battles, however, has already been lost. In the beginning of August, the government decided to construct a landfill at Kazokiskes, only nine kilometers from the Kernave Cultural Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site. A long-time environmentalist himself, Adamkus initially expressed strong disapproval on the chosen area, but after meeting with Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas, he had to agree on the government's selection.
"The submission was a sign of loosing the battle over Kazokiskes," Savukynas said. "And that was a rather strong blow to the Presidential Palace."
Another important test for the president's team will come after the election, when Adamkus will help form the government. Experts say this will be an excellent chance for the president's team to regain confidence and to show its potential as a stabilizing force in domestic politics.
