Lithuanian opposition criticises president for favouring ruling coalition

Lithuania’s opposition has accused President Gitanas Nausėda of being overly lenient with the ruling Social Democratic coalition while directing harsher criticism at previous governments, LRT reports.

Speaking after Nausėda’s annual state-of-the-nation address to parliament on Tuesday, Conservative Party leader Laurynas Kasčiūnas said the president still sees himself as a coalition partner and is tougher on the current opposition than on the Social Democrats.

“Unfortunately, we have to accept that this is the case, because during the election campaign he contributed to the formation of the coalition we now have. The president tends to remain an observer, but sometimes you need to be involved in processes and try to change them,” Kasčiūnas said.

He added that Lithuania is currently facing poorly managed crises, stagnation, and a competence crisis, and that the president’s assessments lack sufficient firmness. “It is clear that the president is closer to the current ruling coalition than to the opposition. We hope that the president will eventually realise that not everything is fine and that sometimes you need to look at things from a different perspective,” Kasčiūnas said.

Liberal Movement leader Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen highlighted Nausėda’s statement that no exceptions should be made for authoritarians, calling it a “red line” for the new government in its relations with the Lukashenko regime. However, she criticised the president’s praise for the culture minister’s focus on culture, calling it an extreme measure.

Čmilytė-Nielsen also described the Social Democrats’ third prime minister in two years as a “major historical failure,” referring to Mindaugas Sinkevičius’s upcoming leadership of the government. She accused Nausėda of acting as a protector of the Social Democratic coalition, noting his shift in opinion on the “Nemuno Aušra” party as a coalition partner.

Liberal MP Eugenijus Gentvilas argued that while Nausėda’s criticism of the current government is justified, the president himself was a supporter of previous cabinets led by Gintautas Paluckas and Ingrida Šimonytė. “The president was the one who formed these coalitions… He was deeply involved, and now he is trying to distance himself. The words are correct… but knowing that the president participated in all that mess, I cannot shake the feeling that the president is wriggling and trying to clear his name in the eyes and ears of the public,” Gentvilas said.