“Have I heard anything about the non-transparency of the tender – I haven’t heard anything. It means that the whole piquancy is that the person worked with G. Landsberg. But she participated in the competition, won it and began a diplomatic career.
It seems wrong to me, because there is also reputational damage to this girl, who, I have no doubt, competently and professionally passed the selection and started working in this job”, said I. Šimonytė in the program “ELTA Kampas”.
“Now it’s like trying to deny that such a possibility can exist. Such things really happen in the civil service every day – not diplomatically, but in the civil service in general – people choose where they want to apply, participate in competitions and you cannot forbid them from that,” the Prime Minister added.
In addition, the Prime Minister claims that in the debates arising in the public space on this issue, she also sees an underestimation of the competences of the specialist who won the competition.
“I also see a certain underestimation of that young girl who is called a secretary everywhere in the headlines, as if working as a secretary is somehow shameful. (…) I have also worked as a secretary and my career has also developed at the third cosmic speed”, said I. Šimonytė.
ELTA reminds that last week the news portal delfi.lt reported that the former secretary and assistant of the Minister of Foreign Affairs was entrusted with the position of attaché. After asking the ministry if it was not a coincidence that the diplomatic rank was given to two persons related to the minister, the institution noted that they were appointed to the said positions after winning tenders.
President Gitanas Nausėda’s chief advisor on foreign policy issues, Asta Skaisgirytė, made it clear that the people of the minister’s team have questions about the given diplomatic ranks. According to her, Mr. Landsberg’s actions and rhetoric stand out.
The minister himself testified that the members of his team obtained this degree through an objective competition. According to the politician, the former so-called diplomatic practice, when the minister could grant the corresponding rank at his own discretion, no longer exists in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
It is true that on Tuesday it became clear that the former secretary of G. Landsbergis, who obtained the rank of attaché, is leaving to work at the representative office in the USA. This was reported by delfi.lt. Although a person with a diplomat’s portfolio usually works in the ministry for 3 years and only after this period can be appointed to work in a diplomatic mission or consular institution, the former member of the minister’s team leaves for the Atlantic earlier.
Due to the recent circumstances, at the beginning of this week “Vardan Lietuvos” decided to apply to VTEK, asking to investigate whether such appointments of the Minister of the Environment do not violate ethical principles.
In addition, on Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Dovydas Špokauskas, the head of the Cabinet of Minister G. Landsbergis, will head the Lithuanian Consulate in New York. The ministry announced about the changes in the career of this diplomat after there was an uproar in the public space regarding the appointments of other members of G. Landsbergis’ team.
Full interview with Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonyta – on the program “ELTA Kampas”, August 9. The recording of the show will be available in the ELTA video bank.
2024-09-08 09:45:28