2024-07-31 23:11:42
The project “Evaluation of the Seimas”, which was initiated by data scientist Kristina Lašaitė, ranked all elected representatives of the nation according to productivity – the results may surprise some.
For example, several representatives of the opposition, as well as Remigijus Žemaitaitis, the leader of the “Nemunas Aušra” party, who has already resigned from the Seimas and is known for his anti-Semitic remarks, are in the top ten, while most of the ministers and political leaders only appear in the second part of the table.
The members of the Seimas themselves assess such calculations differently – some admit that they really work hard and hard, so the assessment is not surprising, while others feel somewhat underestimated.
Numbers are not important
As a news portal lrytas.lt the author of the project, K. Lašaitė, said that the data evaluation took place in the interval from the beginning of the term of office of the Seimas until February 5, 2024. Therefore, the works of the spring session have not yet entered the rankings.
“This rating reflects the productivity of the work of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania for the years 2020-2024, evaluating different actual quantitative criteria. Its purpose is to inform the public about the current situation, strengthen democratic values and increase accountability to voters.
The most important levers in the calculation of this ranking include the attendance of Seimas members’ meetings, the number of initiated legal acts and the number of submitted proposals for existing legal acts,” states the description of this initiative.
The entire ranking table can be seen HERE.
The Minister of the Environment, liberal Simonas Gentvilas, was named in the first place as the most productive member of the Seimas.
“The organizers sent me (the results– aut.past.), congratulated. Somehow, I didn’t work because of the results, I worked quietly in the Seimas – last term I was one of the most active, now it’s similar, but it’s strange that I manage both the minister and the chair of the Seimas”, commented S. Gentvilas.
When asked why, in his opinion, other members of the Government are much lower than him, the liberal explained that the field he supervises – environmental protection – is quite exceptional, so this detail most likely led to his high activity as a member of the Seimas.
“Since amendments to legal acts, proposals for laws, draft laws are basically measured there, not all ministers have as many legal acts as in environmental protection.
It is very strongly regulated through laws and European directives, so my work in the Seimas is very intensive. Compared to agriculture or finance, there are significantly fewer legal acts – maybe that’s why it’s reflected that way.
It’s just environmental protection, whatever it is – whether it’s waste management, whether it’s fines or regulation of pollution – everything has to be provided for in the law, and a lot of things come from Europe that need to be moved”, S. Gentvilas explained his high assessment.
At the top of the table, right after him, is the vice-chairman of the parliament, conservative Jurgis Razma.
“I was the first there for a while, but apparently, when S. Gentvilas showered us with environmental projects here, he overtook us,” joked the politician.
When asked what his work could be singled out the most, Mr. Razma explained that the most important thing for him is to ensure the smooth work of the Seimas.
“Since my area as the deputy speaker of the Seimas is, let’s call it, the Seimas kitchen, the processes in the Seimas, which are regulated by the Seimas Statute, this is my main area and it was to organize the Statute norms so that the work of the Seimas would be as rational and meaningful as possible.
I have prepared and submitted several projects for this area – most of them have been accepted, some are still waiting for their turn. But I provide projects and proposals for various fields.
I wouldn’t single out something as a very significant thing, but simply when I see that there is a problem somewhere, without waiting for anything and I think about how to solve it, if it can be solved by changes to legal acts”, – to the portal lrytas.lt the conservative spoke.
Mr. Razma said that he tries to look at the legislative processes through the eyes of an ordinary citizen – how it would affect him, how it would look in reality.
“I try not to lose that attitude and not sink into the depths academicism“, he said.
When asked how he evaluates the place of other conservative colleagues, especially ministers, in the rating table, Mr. Razma considered that it is difficult to evaluate the activities of members of the Government in the Seimas, because ministers prepare projects in their fields in the ministries and submit them to the Seimas already from the Government.
“It is a longer work because a lot of coordination is required, but then the authorship of the member of the Seimas is lost. Other ministers, who are also members of the Seimas, behave differently – they do not bother to coordinate through the ministries and provide everything as members of the Seimas, so their indicators are impressive. But I wouldn’t say that this is a better option,” commented the Vice-Chairman of the Seimas.
Also, according to J.Razma, such evaluations are subjective in a certain sense, which is why he does not emphasize these indicators too much.
“It all depends on what parameters are chosen, what weight is given to them. If you give a lot of weight to foreign affairs, who participates and goes on business trips, my result here would be zero, because during the entire term I was not on a single foreign business trip.
If you give more weight to legislative projects, my results here are already good. This is a certain angle of assessment here, but it should not be considered absolute and completely objective.
As a result, those members of the Seimas who are a little further away should not be upset if they act in ways that are not seen by the rating evaluators,” J. Razma said.
“People chose to work, so I work”
Ligita Girskienė, a member of the Lithuanian Peasants and Greens Union (LVŽS), is one of the most productive members of the Seimas. She was in the third position of the table.
“People elected me so that I would work, and not sleep to earn money, that’s what I’m working for,” – this is how he described his work results to the portal lrytas.lt she explained.
L.Girskienė said that she has submitted a number of legal acts so far, had many meetings with various interest groups, so the results of such work are more noticeable.
“Certain problems emerged from those talks, legal loopholes became clear, and we made proposals. I was just doing my job, nothing special – I think I could have done even more if I had worked not in the opposition, but in the position.
Sometimes it’s a pity when you collect information, prepare motivational letters, and it takes one second in the hall of the Seimas to reject your proposal – that is the most painful”, shared the LVŽS representative.
L.Girskienė was happy that during the term of office it was possible to achieve various changes in the field of environmental protection, and decisions were made concerning the activities of the administrators of the common use objects of apartment buildings.
“And I repeatedly defended the interests of the population in the courts. I can be happy that I managed to challenge the order of the Minister of the Environment, which wanted another 10%. to charge residents with a tax for waste management, packaging management”, the peasant woman taught.
L. Girskienė actively invited children to her workplace to introduce them to the activities of the Seimas.
“Over 1,000 children came to me during my term – I did not allow parliamentary funds for expensive computers, but I saw the purpose of bringing children, schoolchildren, to show how the Seimas works, to conduct civic lessons.
I did the job for which I was delegated,” the politician noted.
Minister of National Defense Laurynas Kasčiūnas, former Seimas member Remigijus Žemaitaitis, social democrats Gintautas Paluckas and Linas Jonauskas, “libertarian” Artūras Žukauskas, liberal Andrius Bagdonas and conservative Jurgita Sejonienė also made it into the top ten most productive parliamentarians.
He does not doubt his activity
However, the ten least productive members of the Seimas also look interesting. The last in this table is the peasant Juozas Varžgalys. For the portal lrytas.lt it was not possible to contact him – the MP switched off his mobile phone.
Somewhat higher than him, but still at the bottom of the table – Seimas members Artūras Skardžius and Algirdas Stončaitis. True, the latter was surprised by the results of the productivity assessment – the representative of the Democratic faction “Vardan Lietuvos” heard about them for the first time.
“Honestly, I didn’t really see it coming. Well, it shouldn’t be like that… at least according to my accounting, I could name it as it is…” – said the MP somewhat confused.
After searching for his work report for a few minutes, A. Stončaitis listed several of his completed works.
“Individually and together with our colleagues, we submitted 142 draft legal acts and 92 proposals. I don’t know if it’s a lot or a little. There are accepted projects, as usual, even though we are in the opposition. And how they calculate there, I can’t say,” the politician pondered.
A. Stončaitis himself is convinced that he has worked really productively in the parliament so far.
“In the Anti-Corruption Commission alone, how many meetings have I prepared, how many questions have I personally prepared, how many have been presented… I don’t know, to be honest, what is counted and what is not counted. But I think I’m productive,” he insisted.
Vilija Aleknaitė-Abramikienė, a conservative, was named sixth from the bottom in terms of productivity. When asked why she could be so low, the parliamentarian put forward the version that it happened because of her own chosen action strategy.
“You see, there’s probably some kind of external resolution being relied upon here. I worked this term on a different principle, not seeking so much publicity, but working and acting in those areas that seemed important to me, partly promoting certain things that were important to me, and partly stopping those that I thought were unnecessary for the state.
This kind of withdrawal into the shadows and acting in another way was assessed as inactivity, but I would not say that it is completely correct”, assessed V. Aleknaitė-Abramikienė.
The parliamentarian reminded that a large part of her work and efforts is noticed not in the Seimas, but in the international community.
“Of course, the members of the Seimas usually try to be very visible, because it affects the ratings, but I have enough experience to be able to dude without getting up to do something. On the other hand, a large part of my work takes place abroad, where our media cannot reach.
I mean the OSCE – the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and its Parliamentary Assembly – I lead the whole group there. (…) A very large part of my activities take place there, although yes, it is less visible to the Lithuanian voter, but it is really a very demanding job”, emphasized the conservative.
I. Šimonytė – in 51st place
Among the most passive members of the Seimas, the name of conservative Andrias Navickas is listed, as well as Minister of Finance Gintarė Skaistė, current members of the Lithuanian Regions faction Valentina Bukauskas and Laima Mogenienė, representatives of the Mixed Seimas Members Group Česlav Olševski and Mindaugas Puidokas.
In terms of productivity, Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė is in 51st position, Speaker of the Seimas Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen – 32nd, Minister of Agriculture Kęstutis Navickas – 62nd.
Minister of Energy Dainius Kreivys came in 76th place in the table, Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabrielius Landsbergis – 78th.
The current Minister of Education, Science and Sports Radvilė Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė, who was then still an elder of the conservative faction, ranked 81st. Minister of Justice Ewelina Dobrowolska is in 85th place, Minister of Economy and Innovation Aušrinė Armonaitė is in 92nd place. Agnė Bilotaitė, Minister of Internal Affairs, took the 130th place.
The author of the project K. Lašaitė portal lrytas.lt also informed that the recalculation of ratings based on the results of the last session is currently being planned.
2024-07-31 23:11:42