VILNIUS - Viktor Uspaskich resigned his position as Labor Party chief amid a new surge of pressure on Lithuania's ruling coalition, whose grip on power grew more tenuous throughout the past week. The resignation follows a split among the Labor Party, Lithuania's most popular according to most polls, and a probe by prosecutors on possible breaches of law including corruption and misappropriation of funds.
News of Uspaskich's resignation came on May 29 at a meeting of the party's presidium. Two days later, the Labor Party decided to remove all of its ministers after President Valdas Adamkus expressed no confidence in two ministers, a move that has triggered the beginning of a governmental collapse. Prosecutors are investigating whether Labor leaders demanded payment in return for support in procuring EU funds, while the State Security Department is probing whether the party has been receiving money from foreign countries. The charges are the most serious that the ruling coalition 's the Laborites, the Social Democrats and the National Farmers' Union 's have faced to date and threaten to topple the government.
Meanwhile, two ministers came under direct fire: Culture Minister Vladimiras Prudnikovas for allegedly using state funds to send his wife and daughter abroad, and Health Minister Zilvinas Padaiga for ruining the nation's healthcare system, in the opinion of opposition MPs.
The crisis deteriorated so quickly over the past week that President Valdas Adamkus was forced to address the nation via radio. He said he had lost confidence in Prudnikovas and Padaiga, and that the Cabinet should reform itself "in line with the Constitution." Labor Party's coalition partners said it was all but unfathomable that the two ministers could continue working in the Cabinet after the president's speech. "They should resign. I do not expect any other step than resignation from the two ministers mentioned in the president's speech," said Aldona Staponkiene, a member of National Farmers' Union.
Parliament has begun an interpellation procedure against Prudnikovas, who was found guilty of a conflict of public and private interests by the Supreme Official Ethics Commission. The opposition has also targeted Education and Science Minister Remigijus Motuzas.
A number of scenarios are possible, though given the lack of trust among coalition partners, the Labor Party could pull out of the coalition. If the two ministers do resign, it is also possible that the entire Cabinet may have to fold given the constitutional limit on the number of new ministers in a four-year term. Though Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas has refused to vouch for the government's chances of survival, he did say this week that he saw little alternative to the three-party minority coalition given Parliament's current make-up. "So far I can see no alternative to this coalition, although we can hear such initiatives every day. However, taking a practical and realistic look at things, there is nothing else we could offer," he told national radio on May 30. "I do not think the coalition has to be replaced at this time."
Expectedly, there was speculation of what a new coalition would look like, with the most likely alternative being a rainbow coalition uniting Brazauskas' Social Democrats with right-wing forces Homeland Union (Conservatives) and the Liberal/Centrist Union. But the Homeland Union leader said his party would only consider working with the SocDems if someone other than Brazauskas was in charge. The prime minister responded by saying, "I second the statement by opposition leader Andrius Kubilius, who said he would never enter into a coalition with Brazauskas. I will never enter into a coalition with Kubilius either. I can pass the very same statement back, because it is absolutely impossible: there is the disparity of opinions and they have gone too far - I am speaking about actions, judgments that go far beyond political ethics," Brazauskas said.
Regarding the three ministers, Brazauskas said he refused to accept responsibility for their actions and saw no reason to demand their resignations.
"So we will wait to see what comes of it. They are partners of the coalition, and one has to understand that the government is not some sort of a single group 's it is made up of people with political confidence. They first of all have the political confidence of their parties 's that is the way things are in every democratic state, they represent their parties. And those who delegated them must be the first to decide before I take any actions as prime minister," he said on May 30.
But reports on Labor Party's finances continued to surface during the week. According to one, the party's "black bookkeeping" 's as Lithuania media are referring to it 's contains data about some 40,000 litas (11,500 euros) to Health Minister Padaiga. Padaiga denied the reports at the beginning, saying, "I really did not receive the money."
Later, however, he "remembered" receipt of some assistance. "I really put my signature somewhere. When I crashed my car [during the parliamentary election campaign] I received assistance from the party. It was my father-in-law's car. I gave him the money." Padaiga said he could not remember who decided to give him the money. The politician said he never inquired whether the money was legal. "I have no idea about the origin of the money. I was glad to get a compensation for the damages."
LNK television reported on May 25 that the Labor Party's "black bookkeeping" contains data about money "of vague origin" being paid to members of Parliament. Reports suggest that the authorities came across documents proving that Labor Party MPs were constantly paid large amounts of money from unknown sources. LNK said lists were found of Labor Party members with the entries of huge amounts paid and the signatures of recipients. Unnamed sources told the station that the Laborites received bulky amounts of cash on a regular basis, and the sums tended to increase significantly before Christmas and the New Year.
Prosecutor General Algimantas Valantinas declined to comment on the investigation. "The pre-trial investigation is in progress in this case, and the prosecutors will not give any comments on it. The Prosecutor General's Office would wish to be disassociated from any versions of this case that have been recently published by the media and will issue no comments to this effect and underlines that the investigation is still in progress, there are still circumstances to look into and material to check," Valantinas said after meeting with President Valdas Adamkus on May 26.
Meanwhile, Labor Party leaders said they did not know when Uspaskich would return to Lithuania. Faction leader Loreta Grauziniene will act as chairperson of the Party, while supervision over the administrative activity of the Labor Party has been assigned to deputy chairman Vytautas Gapsys. In Grauziniene's words, Uspaskich will remain suspended until he returns from Russia. "Now that I've seen everything with my own eyes, I see there is more to the situation than just family problems. Although the chairman will not admit it, he has some serious health problems. I do not think he will be returning soon," Grauziniene said.
