Olekas sees progress on China ties, faces hiring concerns

Lithuanian Parliament Speaker Juozas Olekas says work to normalise Lithuania’s relations with China is progressing at a good pace, LRT reports.

After meeting Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys on Monday, Olekas said the Foreign Ministry was working in the right direction.

“One of our priorities, I believe, is already included in the third government programme: we want to have the same kind of relations with China as the European Union states have,” Olekas told reporters.

Budrys said Lithuania’s position remained consistent. The country wants the European Union to have a common foreign and security policy and a unified approach towards Beijing.

He said that differences in how EU countries develop bilateral relations with China give Beijing opportunities to manipulate them and reduce the EU’s influence as an international actor.

According to BNS, the governing parties have recently spoken more actively about normalising diplomatic representation with China, but this has not yet produced practical results. The programme of Mindaugas Sinkevičius’ government, like that of former Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė’s cabinet, promises to seek diplomatic relations with China at the same level of representation as in other EU member states.

Lithuania’s relations with Beijing deteriorated in 2021 after Lithuania allowed Taiwan to open a representative office in the country.

Olekas to meet parliament chancellor over hiring procedures

Olekas also confirmed that he would meet Parliament Chancellor Algirdas Stončaitis after the Special Investigation Service raised concerns about potentially non-transparent hiring procedures at the parliamentary administration.

“We will meet with the chancellor, who was recently on leave. We will discuss what action needs to be taken,” Olekas said.

He said the parliamentary board had asked the Special Investigation Service to provide further details about the potentially non-transparent procedures.

Olekas said the parliamentary administration was reviewing the situation, but no specific cases had been submitted because the concerns had been presented in general terms.

In June, the Special Investigation Service reportedly told the parliamentary board that the administration’s hiring procedures may involve systemic breaches and risks. These allegedly concern the organisation of selection procedures, the publication of information, declarations of impartiality, the objectivity of assessments and the preservation of audio recordings.

The service also highlighted possible abuse of an exception allowing people to be hired without a competition for up to six months, potentially bypassing standard procedures before decisions are made about their further careers in the parliamentary administration.

It also pointed to risks in public procurement, where parliamentary administration employees who participated in or initiated procurements may have had undeclared personal, financial or contractual ties with suppliers.

Because personnel administration is the direct responsibility of the parliament chancellor, the service urged the parliamentary board not to leave the matter solely to his discretion. It asked the board to initiate an independent assessment of recruitment and related procedures covering the period since June 2024 and to inform the service about the decisions taken.