Žemaitaitis: if I were prime minister, Budrys would not be in my team today

Remigijus Žemaitaitis, leader of the Nemuno aušra party, stated in an interview with LRT’s Dienos tema that if he were prime minister, current government official Gintaras Budrys “would not be in my team today.” The comment comes amid ongoing political uncertainty over whether Lithuania’s ruling coalition can hold until the end of its term.

Žemaitaitis argued that the coalition—originally formed with then-Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas, along with Vilija Blinkevičiūtė and Saulius Skvernelis—should remain intact for stability. “It works, and I think it can and should continue working if we want stability and calm,” he said. The coalition later expanded to include the Peasant Greens and Christian Families Union faction.

When pressed on whether he was certain the coalition would survive, Žemaitaitis acknowledged unpredictability: “No one is guaranteed anything—not even whether I’ll leave a funeral alive today. The same goes for the coalition.” He noted that the Social Democrats’ new council, meeting this weekend, will decide based on proposals from party leader Mindaugas Sinkevičius, who has been on leave.

Addressing his own legal challenges—including an ongoing antisemitism case in the Court of Appeal—Žemaitaitis dismissed suggestions they hinder his political work. He countered by questioning whether corruption allegations against Social Democrat MPs (“the čekutės case”) should similarly disqualify them from coalition roles. “The question is whether we can think in terms of state priorities today,” he said.

On the Election Commission’s recent ruling that his party violated laws, costing it a €250,000 subsidy, Žemaitaitis downplayed the impact: “The Conservatives were allied with the Liberal Movement, which was convicted in a major bribery case. The Election Commission ruled against us too—so what?” He implied the decision would not sway Social Democrats already opposed to his party’s coalition role.

Žemaitaitis also deflected when asked about scandals involving Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė’s advisor, Juozas Jukna, stating: “I don’t react because it doesn’t interfere with state decisions. If it did, then we’d need different solutions—but personal matters shouldn’t dictate politics.”