Policy and Public Administration Institute, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania

Transcription

1 European Journal of Political Research 41: , Lithuania ALGIS KRUPAVICIUS Policy and Public Administration Institute, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania Institutional changes The most significant institutional-level change was the dissolution of the Ministry of Administrative Reforms and Local Government (Valdymo ir savivaldybi reikal ministerija) after 1 January The political decision to dissolve the ministry was taken immediately after the Seimas elections on 8 October 2000 in order to implement, at least partially, pre-election promises made by the Liberal Union and the New Union/Social Liberals to decrease the number of central government ministries. The functions of the ministry were divided among several existing ministries, with the major part taken by the Ministry of Interior. The total number of ministries decreased to 13, the lowest number since Lithuania re-established independence. On 22 May 2001, the Cabinet decided to establish a Committee for an Information Society in order to coordinate the efforts of different institutions and to encourage the development of an information society in Lithuania. Changes in the cabinet and parliament In retrospect, the turbulent year 2001 in Lithuanian politics needs to be divided into two different periods. The demarcation was drawn in late June and early July with the resignation of the Paksas II Cabinet and the formation of the Brazauskas Government. This had more fundamental consequences than a simple change of prime minister; it meant the end of unstable rule by a parliamentary minority led by the Liberal Union and Social Liberals, and the formation of a much more stable ruling parliamentary majority by the Social Democratic Coalition and Social Liberals. The Paksas Government had been formed in late October 2000 after the parliamentary elections. The results of the 2000 Seimas elections indicated a new trend towards fragmentation of the previously stable Lithuanian party system dominated by the left-wing Lithuanian Democratic Labour Party Published by Blackwell Publishers, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1JF and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA

2 Table 1. Results of the 2000 Seimas elections Date of election: 8 October 2000 Total number of seats: 141 Electorate: 2,626,321 Total votes: 1,539,743 (58.6%) Valid vote: 1,471,247 Party list Single- Party list votes seats member seats Total seats Party/coalition N % N % N % N % Social Democratic Coalition of Algirdas Brazauskas 1 457, Naujoji s junga/socialliberalai New Union (Social 288, Liberals) Lietuvos liberal s junga Lithuanian Liberal Union 253, Tėvynės s junga/lietuvos konservatoriai Homeland 126, Union (Lithuanian Conservatives) Krikščioni demokrat s junga Christian 61, Democratic Union Lietuvos valstieči partija Lithuanian Peasants Party 60, algis krupavicius

3 Lietuvos krikščioni demokrat partija Lithuanian 45, Christian Democratic Party Lietuvos centro s junga Lithuanian Centre Union 42, Nuosaiki j konservatori s junga Union of 29, Moderate Conservatives Lietuvos lenk rinkim akcija Electoral Action of 28, Lithuanian Poles Liaudies s junga Už teising Lietuv People s 21, Union For Just Lithuania Lietuvos laisvės s junga Lithuanian Liberty Union 18, Coalition of Young Lithuania ( Jaunoji Lietuva ), 16, New Nationalists (Naujieji tautininkai) & Union of Political Prisoners (Politini kalini s junga) Lietuvos tautinink s junga Lithuanian Nationalists 12, Union Socialdemokratija 2000 Social Democracy , Moderni j krikščioni demokrat s junga Union of Modern Christian Democrats 2 Independent candidates Total 1,471, lithuania 1017

4 1018 algis krupavicius Table 2. Changes in the membership of the Seimas Number of seats No. Party 1 January January Liberal Union Lietuvos liberal s junga New Union/Social Liberals Naujoji s junga/socialliberalai 3 LSDP Lietuvos socialdemokrat partija Homeland Union (Lithuanian Conservatives) 9 9 Tėvynės s junga (Lietuvos konservatoriai) Other parties and independents Total Table 3. Cabinet composition on 1 January 2001 A. The party composition of Paksas II: Date of investiture: 27 October 2000 Date of resignation: 20 June 2001 Number & Number & percentage of percentage of No. Party parliamentary seats cabinet posts 1 Liberal Union Lietuvos liberal 34 (24.1) 7 (50) s junga 2 New Union/Social Liberals Naujoji 28 (19.8) 6 (42.8) s junga/socialliberalai Non-party 1 (7.2) B. Cabinet members of Paksas II: Prime Minister/Ministras Pirmininkas: R. Paksas (1956 male, Lib) Minister of Foreign Affairs/Užsienio reikal ministras: A.Valionis (1950 male, New Union) Minister of Justice/Teisingumo ministras: G. Bartkus (1966 male, Lib) Minister of Social Security & Labour/Socialinės apsaugos ir darbo ministras: V. Blinkevičiūtė(1960 female, New Union) Minister of Health Care/Sveikatos apsaugos ministras: V. Janušonis (1950 male, New Union); replaced by R. Dobrovolskis (1939 male, New Union) on 15 May 2001 Minister of Culture/Kultūros ministras: G. Kėvišas (1954 male, Lib) Minister of Agriculture/Žemės ūkio ministras: K. Kristinaitis (1961 male, New Union) Minister of Defence/Krašto apsaugos ministras: L. Linkevičius (1961 male, Independent) Minister of Finance/Finans ministras: J. Lionginas (1956 male, Lib) Minister of Economy/Ūkio ministras: E. Maldeikis (1958 male, Lib); replaced by E. Gentvilas (1960 male, Lib) on 15 February 2001 Minister of the Interior/Vidaus reikal ministras: V. Markevičius (1962 male, New Union) Minister of Education & Science/Švietimo ir mokslo ministras: A. Monkevičius (1956 male, New Union) Minister of Communications/Susisiekimo ministras: G. Striaukas (1960 male, Lib); replaced by D.A. Barakauskas (1952 male, Lib) on 24 January 2001 Minister of Environment/Aplinkos ministras: H. Žukauskas (1951 male, Lib)

5 lithuania 1019 Table 4. Cabinet composition on 5 July 2001 A. The party composition of Brazauskas I: Date of investiture: 5 July 2001 Number & Number & percentage of percentage of No. Party parliamentary seats cabinet posts 2 New Union/Social Liberals Naujoji 26 (18.4) 6 (42.8) s junga/socialliberalai 3 Social Democratic Party Lietuvos 48 (34.0) 4 (28.6) socialdemokrat partija Independents (0.6) B. Cabinet composition of Brazauskas I: Prime Minister/Ministras Pirmininkas: A. Brazauskas (1932 male, LSDP) Minister of Foreign Affairs/Užsienio reikal ministras: A.Valionis (1950 male, New Union) Minister of Justice/Teisingumo ministras: V. Markevičius (1962 male, New Union) Minister of Social Security & Labour/Socialinės apsaugos ir darbo ministras: V. Blinkevičiūtė(1960 female, New Union) Minister of Health Care/Sveikatos apsaugos ministras: R. Dobrovolskis (1939 male, New Union) Minister of Culture/Kultūros ministras: R. Dovydėnienė (1956 female, LSDP) Minister of Agriculture/Žemės ūkio ministras: K. Kristinaitis (1961 male, New Union); replaced by J. Kraujelis (1938 male, New Union) on 2 October 2001 Minister of Defence/Krašto apsaugos ministras: L. Linkevičius (1961 male, Independent) Minister of Finance/Finans ministras: D. Grybauskaitė (1956 female, Independent) Minister of Economy/Ūkio ministras: P. Čėsna (1945 male, Independent) Minister of the Interior/Vidaus reikal ministras: J. Bernatonis (1953 male, LSDP) Minister of Education & Science/Švietimo ir mokslo ministras: A. Monkevičius (1956 male, New Union) Minister of Communications/Susisiekimo ministras: Z. Balčytis (1953 male, LSDP) Minister of Environment/Aplinkos ministras: A. Kundrotas (1963 male, Independent) (LDLP) and the right-wing Homeland Union (Lithuanian Conservatives). The HU(LC) won only 9 seats in the Seimas elections on 8 October The Social Democratic Coalition (SDC), which included the Democratic Labour and Social Democratic parties along with the Union of Russians, New Democracy/Women Party as minor partners, finished in first place with 51 seats, short of an absolute majority. The centre-right Liberal Union (34 seats) led by R. Paksas (HU(LC) prime minister from June to October 1999) and newcomer to Lithuanian politics, the centre-left New Union/ Social Liberals

6 1020 algis krupavicius (28 seats) headed by A. Paulauskas (former Prosecutor General and very successful contender in the 1998 presidential elections 1 ) finished in second and third places. President Adamkus considered the 2000 Seimas elections to be an opportunity to secure a pro-presidential majority in the parliament. In Spring 2000, he started to promote the slogan new politics, although without any clearly articulated content. From the very beginning, the new politics of Adamkus was supported by the Centre Union and Liberals. Later, the Social Liberals and Moderate Christian Democrats (a splinter group from the Christian Democratic Party) joined them. However, these four political parties failed to form a real electoral coalition, although some members of the Moderate Christian Democrats were taken on the lists of the Liberals, Social Liberals and Centre Union. The new politics parties competed with each other in the proportional representation (PR) system, as well as in the single-mandate districts in the parliamentary elections. In the end, the scenario of new politics was crushed by the unexpected defeat of the Centre Union, which failed to pass the 5 per cent PR threshold, and only 3 Members of Parliament from the LCU were elected in single-mandate constituencies. With no single party or coalition having obtained an absolute majority in Parliament, President Adamkus had space for political maneuvering in nominating a prime minister. Despite protests from the Social Democratic Coalition, Adamkus asked the Liberal Union and Social Liberals to keep their pre-election promises and try to build a parliamentary coalition. In late October 2000, the alliance of new politics elected Paulauskas to chair the Seimas and endorsed Paksas as prime minister. Still, this coalition did not possess a majority in the Seimas and struggled to secure the required number of votes in Parliament on almost every issue. Moreover, Paulauskas and Paksas were still political novices and both lacked skills in political bargaining and administration from the very beginning. The same argument also might be extended to the Liberals and Social Liberals as inexperienced organizations at the top of Lithuanian politics. The political inexperience of new politics was manifested very quickly in a number of scandals. In January, Minister of Communications Striaukas was forced to resign because he violated the law on conflict of private and public interests by giving most of the contracts for road maintenance in to a private company in which his wife was a 20 per cent shareholder, while he was a director of the state agency on road maintenance. E. Maldeikis, Minister of Economy, resigned after his visit to Moscow and unofficial talks with Russian companies Gazprom and Lukoil. The alleged reason being that Mr Bosas, who represented the Corporation of Finances and Industry of Western Lithuania, had arranged his visit. Bosas was an active player in the

7 lithuania 1021 gas business in Lithuania, and expected to take an advantageous position in the forthcoming privatization of the major state-owned company in the gas sector. Although no violation of the law was ever proven, Maldeikis resigned under fire from the Seimas, the President and the mass media. The Paksas II Cabinet and new politics coalition continued to be in troubled waters during the Spring of Several things caused the government s instability. For the first time after the appointment of the Paksas II cabinet, Adamkus started to distance himself from the coalition, instead of trying to lead it. The most evident example was the Annual Report of the President to the Seimas on 19 April 2001, in which Adamkus openly remarked: there are not many signs of a newer style in a work of the parliament, in relations between the Seimas and the Cabinet, and altogether of new, or certain, politics. Parties of the coalition are not strong. So far they obviously lack an experience in governance, a direction and continuity in actions. In May 2001, Mr Janušonis, Minister of Health Care, resigned without giving clearly articulated reasons and the ministers of Agriculture and Interior were under permanent fire in the mass media. Janušonis was the third minister in the LLU-NU/SL government forced to resign in the slightly more than six months since the cabinet had started to work. In June 2001, the LLU-NU/SL coalition started to collapse quickly after the NU/SL asked to change Paksas as Prime Minister. After some hesitation about options to preserve the coalition of new politics, on 5 July 2001 President Adamkus signed a decree to appoint a new government led by Algirdas Brazauskas, the leader of LSDP. The LSDP (48 seats) and NU/SL (26 seats) formed a new centre-left minimal-winning coalition in the Seimas. However, the programme of the Brazauskas Government was approved with 81 votes in the Parliament. This was a very clear sign that the new coalition had much broader and more stable support in the Seimas than the previous government, not only from the main coalition members, but also from some minor parties. Moreover, the LSDP had been the leading political party in public opinion polls since the 2000 Seimas elections and Brazauskas was the most popular politician in the country during the same period. In order to guarantee continuity of governmental policies and a smooth transition of power, the LSDP-NU/SL coalition retained seven ministers from the previous cabinet. This tactic was extremely favourable to the NU/SL, which according to numbers of parliamentary seats was the junior partner to the LSDP. However, the NU/SL secured all six of its previously allocated ministerial positions and received a few more positions in regional government. The LSDP members received only four ministerial portfolios and the position of prime minister.

8 1022 algis krupavicius Mr. Linkevičius secured the position of Minister of Defence, despite the fact that the Liberal Union invited him to join the Paksas II Cabinet. However, Linkevičius was a member of the Lithuanian Democratic Labour Party until 1997, and had served as Minister of Defence in the cabinets of the LDLP in Similarly, Mr Valionis, Minister of Foreign Affairs, was a close associate of Algirdas Brazauskas in the early 1990s, but in 2000 he was promoted by the New Union/Social Liberals, although he was not a member of this party. The preference of the Brazauskas Government for professionals rather than party politicians was very profoundly indicated by an appointment of Ms Grybauskaitė to be Minister of Finance. Grybauskaitė served as Deputy Minister of Finance and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in several cabinets of the Homeland Union/Lithuanian Conservatives before their defeat in the 2000 Seimas elections. She was known as an advocate of fiscal restraint and her positions contradicted the LSDP pre-election pledges to increase governmental expenditures, especially those related to welfare benefits. Two other non-lsdp ministers promoted by the LSDP, Minister of Economy Čėsna and Minister of Environment Kundrotas, were professionals in their respective fields. Moreover, an invitation to Mr Kundrotas to join the cabinet was a friendly gesture to President Adamkus, who actually proposed him for this position. The selection of ministers to the Brazauskas Cabinet showed that the new centre-left coalition is politically pragmatic and compromise-oriented. In addition, the LSDP-NU/SL cabinet has Brazauskas, the only charismatic leader in Lithuania in over a decade, at the top. Issues in national politics The year 2001 started with sharp criticism in the mass media and from the Social Democratic opposition towards the policies of the LLU-NU/SL coalition. The main issue in early January was a proposal by the Paksas II Cabinet to cut pensions in order to balance the budget of the state-run Social Insurance Agency, which was about to collapse with a deficit of nearly 500 million litas. In Spring, privatization of the state-run gas sector and restructuring of the energy sector were the main issues on the agenda of the Paksas Government. In April, after prolonged discussions and many controversies, the Paksas Cabinet was able to sell a 76 per cent stake in LISCO, the state shipping company, to Danish company DFDS Tor Lines, and 90.7 per cent of the Lithuanian Savings Bank shares were sold to Hansabank. At the same time, the internal weakness of the LLU-NU/SL coalition was manifested in a failure to move quickly and efficiently with the privatization of Lietuvos dujos and

9 liberalization of the energy sector. Instead of passing strategic decisions in energy policy, the LLU-NU/SL coalition inspired long and fruitless discussion on the re-organization of regional administration in Lithuania by proposing to create three to five regional units instead of the ten that already existed. In the end, no decisions were taken and the status quo was preserved. After the change of government in June 2001, the political scene became much more stable. The LSDP-NU/SL Government announced seven main priorities, including: Lithuania s preparation for European Union membership and integration into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO); improvement of the conditions for private entrepreneurship and the development of competitiveness in the area of agriculture; reduction in unemployment and poverty levels, as well as increased funding for education, science and culture; development of an information society; and enhancement of public order. The new situation allowed the government to reach decisions on some highly sensitive issues. First, the reorganization of Lietuvos energija (the staterun giant in the energy sector) was started by establishing two companies in the area of electricity production (Lietuvos elektrinė and Mažeiki elektrinė) and three companies in the area of distribution of electricity (Eastern and Western energy networks, and Lietuvos energija). The government approved the model of selling a 76 per cent stake of Lietuvos dujos. The Brazauskas Government was flexible in its relations with Mažeiki nafta, the oil refinery operated by Williams International, a United Statesbased company that had 33 per cent of the refinery s shares since Another two-thirds of the shares were still in the hands of the Lithuanian government, but Williams International secured all the rights of management in Mažeiki nafta. Williams International failed to convert Mažeiki nafta into a profitable company in Furthermore, the losses of Mažeiki nafta were all covered in the Lithuanian state budget. Williams International became a symbol of inefficient, and even corrupt, privatization. The new centre-left government encouraged Williams International to reach a deal with Russian companies over crude oil supplies, and tried to avoid open conflicts with Mažeiki nafta. Positive economic developments helped the Brazauskas Government to ensure political stability. In 2001, gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 5.7 per cent and foreign export growth was equal to 20.3 per cent. Revenues to the national budget increased by 6.3 per cent in comparison to the year 2000, although the budget deficit was still at a level of 1.5 per cent. In October November, during parliamentary discussions on the state budget for 2002, issues about the state s role in the area of income redistribution came to the fore. The very liberal character of the Lithuanian economy was well indilithuania 1023

10 1024 algis krupavicius cated by the fact that the government redistributed only per cent of GDP during the last few years. On the other hand, Lithuania has had high income inequality in comparison to other Central East European countries. The LSDP-NU/SL coalition brought social welfare issues back to the political agenda, along with slightly increased funding for education and research. As many as 16 chapters in the Lithuania-European Union negotiations were closed during the year, bringing the total number of the closed chapters to 23. Lithuania, despite having begun the negotiations only at the beginning of 2000, became the leading country of Central East Europe according to this parameter. However, two topics remained among the most difficult issues in Lithuania-European Union negotiations: closure of Ignalina s nuclear power station and the future of agriculture within the European Union. The nuclear power plant issue was intensively discussed with the European Union officials, mainly focusing on two aspects trying to establish a final date of closure and sharing the costs of this work between the European Union and Lithuania. The European Commission declared the year 2009 to be the final deadline for Ignalina s closure, leaving no space for compromise between the European Union and Lithuania. Still, the Lithuanian government had sufficient space to negotiate financial conditions for this deal. The Brazauskas team presented the issue as a European-scale problem, demanding that the European Union take financial and other material responsibilities for solving it, and not leave Lithuania to face this problem alone. The competitiveness of Lithuania s agriculture was a latent issue in the context of the country s preparation to enter the European Union. Major frustrations of Lithuanian farmers were related to a delay of funding from the European Union s SAPARD programme for more than a year. Only at the end of 2001 were reviews of the first applications for funding from SAPARD begun. In the area of defence and security policy, major goals and efforts were related to Lithuania s joining NATO. On May 2001, the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO met in Vilnius, and this was seen as an important step on Lithuania s path to NATO membership. On 1 October, the cabinet adopted a revised programme on Lithuania s preparation for NATO membership. After 11 September, Lithuania was among the first countries to very actively support the efforts by the United States to build an international anti-terrorist coalition. The Seimas passed a bill to allow the members of the anti-terrorist coalition to use Lithuania s air space for military operations if needed. The party system continued the trend of mergers between ideologically similar parties that had started in On 27 January, the Lithuanian Democratic Labour Party and the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party completed their merger, which had started in the second half of 2000, by establishing the

11 lithuania 1025 LSDP. Algirdas Brazauskas, the former leader of the LDLP and President of Lithuania from , was elected Chairman of the party. The LSDP became the strongest party in the country, with around 15,000 individual members and good connections with the major trade unions. On 12 May, an agreement on the merger of the Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party and Christian Democratic Union was signed and approved by the merger conference. The new party was named the Lithuanian Christian Democrats (LChD). Kazys Bobelis, a Lithuanian-American who returned to the country at the beginning of 1990s and had been leader of Christian Democratic Union, was elected Chairman of the united party. In the case of LDLP and LSDP unification, the merger conference was the final step in the establishment of a united organization. The situation within the Lithuanian Christian Democrats was different. The merger conference of Christian Democrats was among the first steps taken to establish the united party. On a whole, the merger of the Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union might be characterized as a unification from the top down and primarily in reaction to the defeat of Christian Democratic organizations in the 2000 Seimas elections. The merger conference elected various national posts in the LChD (the Board, Chairman, etc.), but the unification of the parties at the grass-roots level was forecasted to finish only on 31 December Again in the case of the LSDP, the local organizations were much more involved in the process of unification from the very beginning. Still, the Lithuanian Christian Democrats became the third largest political party in Lithuania (after the LSDP and Homeland Union/Lithuanian Conservatives) with around 10,000 individual members. In September and October 2001, five small right-wing parties (the Lithuanian Nationalists Union, the Lithuanian Freedom League, the Party of Independence, the Lithuanian Democratic Party and the Homeland People s Party) started inter-party negotiations and finally declared that they would establish a Union of Lithuanian Rightists. Arūnas Žebriūnas, a well-known film director with some political experience in S jūdis in , was elected to lead this new political organization. However, the Union of Lithuanian Rightists was established as an inter-party alliance, and all attempts to create a united party failed. Among the reasons for this failure were the very different backgrounds and orientations of the parties. The Lithuanian Nationalists Union and Lithuanian Freedom League were nationalist and modestly anti-european parties. The Lithuanian Democratic Party is known as an historical party. On the contrary, the Homeland People s Party was a splinter organization from the HU/LC, established only on the eve of the 2000 elections. Still, both parties were very much pro-european Union in their orientations. The parties had few characteristics in common, relatively unknown

12 1026 algis krupavicius leaders who were surrounded by a small but tight group of followers led each of them, and they never received broad support among voters. Appendix. Abbreviations of party names Abbreviation Name of the party (English) Name of the party (Lithuanian) ChDU Christian Democratic Union Krikščioni demokrat s junga HU(LC) Homeland Union (Lithuanian Tėvynės s junga (Lietuvos Conservatives) konservatoriai) LChD Lithuanian Christian Democrats Lietuvos krikščionys demokratai LChDP Lithuanian Christian Democratic Lietuvos krikščioni demokrat Party partija LCU Lithuanian Centre Union Lietuvos centro s junga LDLP Lithuanian Democratic Labour Lietuvos demokratinė darbo Party partija LLU Lithuanian Liberal Union Lietuvos liberal s junga LSDP Lithuanian Social Democratic Lietuvos socialdemokrat partija Party NU/SL New Union/Social Liberals Naujoji s junga/socialliberalai SDC Social Democratic Coalition Socialdemokratinė koalicija Note 1. Paulauskas (953,776 votes) lost the election to V. Adamkus (968,031 votes) by a margin of only 0.74 per cent. Sources and further information On the Internet: Lithuanian Government online: Lithuanian Parliament online: Detailed electoral results: Lithuania s negotiations with the European Union: Lithuania s defence and security policy, integration to NATO: The World Factbook 2001: Data on Lithuania s economy and finances: A review of Lithuania s macroeconomics:

13 lithuania 1027 Publications: Jankauskas, A. (ed.) (2001). Lithuanian Political Science Yearbook, Vilnius: Institute of International Relations and Political Science. Spurga, S. (2001). Svarbiausi Lietuvos i vyki žinynas Vilnius: Vaga.