Lithuanian PM urges state agencies to skip costly parties

Ministries and state institutions should hold parties only in better times or pay for them with employees’ own money, Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius said Friday, LRT reported. His comments followed criticism of a nearly 48,000-euro event for staff of the Ministry of National Defence.

The news portal 15min reported that other ministries had also organised staff events this year, spending from a few hundred euros to tens of thousands. The largest reported event expense after the defence ministry’s was 26,000 euros, spent by the Ministry of Economy and Innovation. The Ministry of Finance said its event budgets typically reach up to 50,000 euros, but it cancelled its traditional anniversary celebration this year.

Sinkevičius said public institutions should consider whether celebrations were appropriate while the government was seeking funds for the budget. He said larger events should wait until the country had peaceful times and a budget surplus rather than a deficit.

For Christmas gatherings, he suggested employees could contribute a few dozen euros each. He also said celebrations could be modest, such as donating to charity or exchanging small gifts.

The Ministry of National Defence event cost nearly 48,000 euros, media reports said, with the ministry contributing almost 45,000 euros and participants paying part of the bill. Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas apologised to the public this week and said a new system would be developed to motivate staff and strengthen the ministry community. He had initially said such events were common practice in organisations, but promised to review the event’s cost and organisation.