Premier Inga Ruginienė says she could represent Lithuania well at European Council summits
Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė has expressed openness to representing the country at meetings of the European Council (EVT), while also calling for a return to a more flexible system that would allow the president and government to share responsibility according to their respective competencies.
“I really could do very well there,” Ruginienė told the news portal Lrytas in an interview. “It would be very good if we could return to the old system, where responsibilities could be shared according to competencies. I believe we could agree and divide them appropriately. Unfortunately, at the European level, a completely new system is now in place that no longer allows for such sharing. That may be the problem. But this is not something we can decide—these decisions are made at a much higher level.”
She emphasised that she does not want institutional rivalry between the government and the presidency to influence discussions on representation. “I would not want the government and the presidency to be artificially set against each other. We are grown-ups; we can agree and coordinate on certain issues. I would like this matter to be left to us to resolve,” she said.
The prime minister also recalled that last October, her advisor Ignas Dobrovolskas stated that the president and prime minister had agreed to consult regularly on who should represent Lithuania at EVT meetings. At the time, he did not rule out the possibility of the prime minister participating in informal EVT gatherings.
The current system for representing Lithuania at the European Council has been a subject of debate throughout the previous parliamentary term. Conservative lawmakers have repeatedly called for the government leader to be allowed to represent the country at EVT summits, depending on the topics under discussion. However, the president has described such proposals as unacceptable.
The European Council consists of the heads of state or government of EU member states, the President of the European Council, the President of the European Commission, and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The council typically meets at least twice every six months in Brussels, with extraordinary meetings held as needed.