Ušackas had served as Lithuania's foreign minister since Dec. 2008, and expressed surprise at the president's decision.
VILNIUS — Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vygaudas Ušackas announced his resignation Thursday morning.
Following President Dalia Grybauskaitė’s public statement Wednesday that she no longer had confidence in him, Ušackas said he would resign if the Cabinet agreed with the president.
“Currently it’s of paramount importance that the work of the government of Lithuania is smooth and consistent,” Ušackas said in a statement to the press. “In view of the situation, I declare my resignation.”
Ušackas didn’t have the president’s trust and used using his position for personal purposes such as to increase party ratings, presidential spokesman Linas Balsys told journalists Wednesday.
“The president is convinced that the state’s foreign policy is particularly important and cannot become the hostage of foreign minister’s self-promotion,” Balsys said.
The president said that the foreign minister can’t design his own policy and that he must be in chorus with the head of state. However, in an interview Thursday with Baltic Reports, Balsys said he could not give specific examples of this as dealings with foreign states require discretion.
“There were some cases when he used ultimatum langauge when the president was promoting dialogue language,” Balsys told Baltic Reports. “But there were many more cases … I cannot give you details because as I said yesterday in the diplomatic world many things cannot be publicly debated.”
“It’s written in the constitution on page 84; the president makes decisions on foreign policy and implements those with the government together. The president is the one who decides,” Balsys said.
Earlier this month Ušackas castigated Belarus for refusing the extradite Vladimir Uskhopchik, a Soviet general accused of human rights violations while in command of the Vilnius garrison during Lithuania’s drive for independence two decades ago. This marked a shift from Lithuania’s warming of relations with Belarus in 2009 after President Alexander Lukashenko was invited to Vilnius for the first time in 11 years to discuss further cooperation between the two countries with Grybauskaitė.
Ušackas and the president had also disagreed about the investigation into whether the CIA had operated a secret prison in Lithuania.
Ušackas denied that he had botched policy, but said he would not contest the decision.
“If I am an obstacle to harmonious activities of the government, I will resign … first of all, I would like to hear the opinion of the coalition, the party. I personally did not receive the answer to the question, why I lost the confidence; and this is very important for myself, my family and my colleagues abroad,” Ušackas said to the press on Wednesday.
“I never sought self-promotion, I am just doing my job, I am doing my job as foreign minister and head of diplomacy; therefore, I am really surprised by such statements,” Ušackas said.
Presidential turnaround
Wednesday’s announcement came as a bit of a surprise, as only last week the president’s office was adamant that Grybauskaitė was not looking to shake up the Council of Ministers.
“She is ready to work with whatever coalition emerges,” Balsys told Baltic Reports on Jan. 11. “It’s not like the president is imposing her will upon any other. When she was approving the whole ministry, that was the time, when she was examining the time of each minister. Now is not the case. She is aware of what is going on, but she is not the initiator of the change.”
On Thursday Balsys said that statement was referring to the coalition’s decisions on who to nominate for ministry positions and that the president’s dissatisfaction with the foreign minister is a separate issue.
“She is not going to interfere with the new candidature. That’s what I meant when I told you that she’s not imposing any suggestions,” Balsys told Baltic Reports. “The business with the foreign minister is separate business, it’s been developing for a long time already.”
Under the Lithuanian constitution, ministers must be approved by the president after being chosen by the prime minister. Grybauskaitė approved Ušackas along with most of the other sitting ministers after taking office in July.
Replacement unclear
The Lithuanian government is now considering a replacement for Ušackas, but no names have been mentioned. Whoever is nominated will need to be approved by President Grybauskaitė.
— Baltic Reports assistant editor Adam Mullett contributed to this story.
Balsys is a reasonable person but you can tell by his responses that he’s struggling by trying to present Usackas’ ouster as something other than what it clearly is.
Usackas was considered a possible candidate for President in the last election. He’s a professional and reasonable Minister in an otherwise politically dysfunctional arena. Grybauskaite pushed Usackas out simply because she finds him to be a political competitor – now or in the future. She pushed him out as Minister to deny him a platform from which he could communicate.