VILNIUS - Agriculture Minister Kazimira Prunskiene, under pressure from the Presidential Palace and the Foreign Ministry, issued another statement on Thursday pledging not to confuse her porfolio with that of foreign policy.
In her statement, she once again justified her participation in Kaliningrad's 750th anniversary celebration, where President Valdas Adamkus had been left off the list. Both Adamkus and the Foreign Ministry advised ministers and other government and municipal officials who had been invited not to go, but Prunskiene did not heed the office.
Prunskiene said that her attendance at the festivities was "overemphasized and politicized too much."
"The strict response of the president came as the biggest surprise. I am sorry that my comments on this matter sounded to Adamkus as a lecture or questioning of the president's constitutional authority to tackle the main foreign policy issues and pursue foreign policy together with the government," the minister said in the statement.
"With all due responsibility, I can say that I, as the agriculture minister, have never misunderstood, confused or disregarded the fields of competence by my actions, and this will never happen in the future," she said.
