In Lithuania, the change at the top of the government has taken place: Gintautas Paluckas will be the new Prime Minister. Now the Social Democrat has to name his cabinet – amid ongoing criticism of his coalition.
Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda has appointed the Social Democrat Gintautas Paluckas as the new Prime Minister of the Baltic EU and NATO country. The 45-year-old deputy party leader of the previous opposition force had previously been confirmed by the parliament in Vilnius.
88 MPs voted for Paluckas, who was nominated by the head of state on Tuesday as a candidate for the head of government, with 36 votes against and six abstentions. Once appointed, according to the presidential decree, Paluckas has 15 days to form a new government, whose members must be formally confirmed by Nauseda. Paluckas will then have to submit his cabinet and government program to another vote in parliament.
More controversial coalition partner
The Social Democrats actually ran in the election with the popular party leader Vilija Blinkeviciute as the top candidate. After the election victory, the 64-year-old MEP made a U-turn, citing her age and health, and proposed Paluckas for the office of head of government.
In a controversial move – and contrary to the Social Democrats' announcements to the contrary before the election – he integrated the populist “Dawn of Nemunas” party into the government. Its chairman is on trial for allegedly making anti-Semitic comments. This caused a lot of criticism nationally and internationally – including from Germany.
President doesn't want to appoint populists as ministers
President Nauseda had therefore announced that he would not appoint any members of the party as ministers in the next government, in which the Democratic Union for Lithuania is a further partner. The three-party alliance has 86 of the 141 seats in parliament.
In Lithuania, ministers are appointed and dismissed by the President on the recommendation of the head of government. Paluckas therefore met with Nauseda again before his appointment to discuss the candidates for the cabinet positions. Opponents want to protest at another rally in the evening against the inclusion of the “Dawn of Nemunas” in the government.
