President’s Madeira work raises questions over presidential holidays

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda’s decision to work remotely from Madeira during a quieter summer week has raised questions about why presidents do not simply take holidays, LRT reports. Nausėda said no one can deputise for the president, but legal provisions distinguish between a president working abroad and one temporarily unable to perform his duties.

“This question probably cannot be resolved because the president is a person whom no one can replace,” Nausėda told LRT Television this week. “If there were a need to sign a law or make a decision, I could not instruct anyone to deputise for me.”

He said he had chosen “the only or almost the only week of the year” when there were no in-person meetings or laws requiring his direct physical participation. Modern technology, he added, allowed him to remain connected to his duties.

Lithuania’s Labour Code gives employees at least 20 working days of annual leave. Some groups, including people who work six days a week, raise children or have disabilities, are entitled to more.

However, neither the Constitution nor the Law on the President provides for presidential holidays. The Constitution says that when the president is temporarily abroad or ill and temporarily unable to perform his duties, the speaker of the Seimas, Lithuania’s parliament, deputises for the president.

The speaker’s powers are restricted in that role. The speaker cannot call early parliamentary elections or appoint or dismiss ministers without the Seimas’ approval. The Seimas, in turn, cannot consider a motion of no confidence in the speaker.

The speaker also deputises for the president if the president dies, resigns, is removed through impeachment or is unable to perform the duties because of their health. In all other cases, the Constitution bars other people or institutions from exercising presidential powers.

The Law on the President likewise refers only to a “temporary departure abroad” and does not mention holidays.

Lithuanian presidents have nevertheless taken breaks in practice. Valdas Adamkus traditionally travelled to Mexico, where laws were sent to him for signature. Algirdas Brazauskas openly said he enjoyed Lithuania’s seaside and combined holidays with work there. That arrangement is legally more complicated because the president is not abroad.

Dalia Grybauskaitė was described as a president who had never taken a holiday during her 10 years leading the country, although media reports raised questions about trips in her schedule to the seaside.

During his visit to Madeira in early August, Nausėda did not ask Seimas Speaker Juozas Olekas to deputise for him. The presidential office told the media that Nausėda remained in office and was carrying out his duties fully while abroad.

Johanas Baltrimas, a legal scholar and associate professor at Vilnius University, told LRT.lt that the absence of formal presidential holidays is not unique to Lithuania. He said holidays for heads of state are generally understood, regardless of their official designation, because otherwise they would work for five years without any rest.

According to Baltrimas, such arrangements develop through established practice, as they have for parliamentary speakers and former presidents. He added that a Lithuanian president should coordinate with the Seimas speaker in case the president became unreachable while abroad, meaning the two should not take time off at the same time.