Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nausėda delivered his first State of the Nation address on Thursday, outlining his take on the situation and challenges facing the country.

Nausėda said that “there are still insurmountable obstacles” in Lithuania’s relations in Russia.

“I’m talking about the Kremlin’s attempts to transform the mid-20th century history, which was tragic for many nations, into an obedient political servant,” he said in reference to Russia’s historical revisionism.

Moscow has come under criticism from Poland, the Baltic states and other countries for reversing its decision to condemn the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact.

The non-aggression pact signed between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia in 1939 carved up Europe into respective spheres of influence, and led to the occupation of the Baltic states by the Soviets.

Russia maintains that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania joined the Soviet Union and were not occupied.

“Lithuania will never agree with it, this [history] has cost us too dearly,” said Nausėda.

Belarusian nuclear plant a result of Lithuania’s failure

Nausėda says the emergence of Belarusian nuclear plant some 50 kilometres from Vilnius is a mistake of Lithuanian politics of the past 12 years. Placing the responsibility on the current government and political rows within the country will not help solve the problem.

“Shifting the responsibility to the participants of the relay run in the home stretch will not help the team,” he added.

Nausėda called on Lithuanian politicians to join forces to rally support abroad, instead of exchanging accusations.

“Lithuania has raised and will raise the issue of the unsafe Astravyets power plant in the international community, demanding responsibility and action,” he said.

“However, our memoranda and letters of local significance will not help” the efforts, added Nausėda.

The Lithuanian government says the Astravyets plant, located some 50 kilometers from Vilnius, fails to meet international safety standards, an allegation Minsk denies.

Lithuania has been trying since early 2016 to convince its neighbours and the European Commission to agree on barring access for Astravyets electricity to the EU market, but it has achieved limited results so far.

The talks on a joint Baltic boycott are still ongoing.

Nauseda noted in his address that Lithuania has in recent years reopened dialogue with Belarus without crossing the red lines on nuclear energy and human rights issues.

“Belarus’ sovereignty is a national security interest for Lithuania, too,” he said.

Slow pace of state aid

Nausėda criticised the government for the slow pace of aid to crisis-affected businesses.

“Today we see that, unfortunately, we lack the determination and are late with measures to help stop the spread of the virus in the national economy,” he said, noting that a mere eight or ten percent of the earmarked funding has reached businesses.

Both businesses and economists have criticised the slow pace of assistance, blaming the delays on excessive red tape and officials’ wish to fend off any accusations of overspending.

Nausėda has also repeatedly called to accelerate the allocation of funding.

In mid-March, the government approved a 5-billion-euro plan to stimulate the economy and mitigate the effects of the coronavirus, with a billion euros earmarked for businesses.

The amount of aid for businesses was later increased further, but only a small portion of it has been distributed so far, except for funding for micro-enterprises that receive money via the tax authority.

In June, the government also endorsed a 6.3-billion-euro plan, The DNA of the Future Economy, that adds additional 1.8 billion euros for public investment by late 2021.

Critics, however, say the government is only investing in roads and other infrastructure, and not in emerging economic sectors and socioeconomic reforms.

“Europe is rethinking the lessons of the pandemic crisis and is poised for a qualitative renewal. In the next six to seven years, Lithuania has a unique opportunity to fundamentally change its face through targeted investment,” Nausėda said.

“This is not only an ambition; it is also a matter of survival in the competitive struggle,” he added.

According to the president, Lithuania now finds itself in a favourable position, as it can tap into huge financial resources provided by the EU’s multiannual financial framework and its recovery fund.

Tensions over top court push Lithuania into constitutional crisis, president warns

Attempts to arouse controversy over the Constitutional Court are pushing Lithuania into a constitutional crisis, Nausėda said in his speech.

“There have been attempts lately to stir up emotions over the Constitutional Court. Whether deliberately or unconsciously, steps are being taken that are pushing the country into a constitutional crisis,” he said. “This is irresponsible.”

The government coalition partners earlier this week questioned the legitimacy of the current composition of the Constitutional Court and asked Nausėda to look into the situation.

The Constitutional Court has dismissed the doubts as unfounded, describing the move by the ruling bloc as “political pressure”.

The term of office of three Constitutional Court judges, including Dainius Žalimas, its president, ended in March, but parliament has rejected all proposed candidates to replace them.

Post-crisis Lithuania will have to live within its means

A post-crisis Lithuania will have to live within its means, President Gitanas Nauseda said,

The head of state also warned on Thursday, however, that the state’s funds must not be wasted, adding that ensuring the transparency of public procurements and fighting corruption are a priority.

“We will pool efforts to make sure Lithuania’s tax system is fairer and does not service the needs of specific interest groups or even people,” he said.

“But even the fairest tax system will not ensure a dignified life as long as money for the creation of a common wellbeing is […] wasted, and not invested into the future,” he added.

“In case of success, we could save funds and use them for the healthcare system, education, pensions and other social needs. We have put amendments to the Laws on Public Procurement and Corruption, and this is only the beginning,” said Nausėda.

During the crisis, Nauseda backed the payment of one-off payouts of 200 euros to pensioners and also introduced the initiative for one-off payments 120 and 200 euros to families with children.

He also proposed raising non-taxable income by 50 euros and temporarily cutting the residential income tax rate by 5 percentage points.

The parliament is inclined to back the presidential proposal on increasing non-taxable income, but the ruling block is against cutting the residential income tax rate.

Critics, including Finance Minister Vilius Šapoka, say it would not reduce poverty.  Just and green

President Nausėda said that Lithuania must strive to become “a just, green, innovative welfare state”, a goal that requires more respect, dialogue and mutual trust.

“For three decades, the most important goal of all of us has been to return to where we were forcibly torn from – to the Western world in the political, cultural and economic sense of the word,” Nausėda said in his address to the parliament.

“For three decades, we have sought to establish the country’s international security so that the painful history of the past never happens again,” he continued.

“This process of building and improving the state is ever-ongoing. Next to it, however, today we have set another great goal for Lithuania: a just, green, innovative welfare state.”

Low bar

In his address, Nausėda criticised government officials, saying the standards of political responsibility were pushed down to the new low.

“It is a shame that we have lowered the bar of political responsibility of high-ranking government officials to its lowest point. It appears that any action that is not punishable by imprisonment is just and lawful,” Nausėda said.

The president did not name any specific politicians, but he has been in a long-standing row with the ruling bloc over removing Transport Minister Jaroslav Narkevič.

Nausėda also said that he was perplexed “by politicians’ stubborn opposition to initiatives that are not conceived by them, even though they are beneficial to Lithuanian citizens”.

Spy swap

In the address, Nausėda recalled a spy swap operation in which Russia released two Lithuanian and a Norwegian national convicted for spying in exchange for two of its own nationals.

Nausėda said “it was a matter of honour” for him to help two citizens of Lithuania and a citizen of Norway reunite with their families.

As part of the operation completed on November 15, 2019, Lithuania handed two Russians jailed for espionage to Moscow in exchange for Lithuanian citizens Yevgeny Mataitis and Aristidas Tamošaitis, and Norwegian citizen Frode Berg.

The spy swap occurred after the Lithuanian parliament amended the law to allow the president to pardon the Russian spies.

“In solving this issue, the Seimas showed due unity. The [security] services demonstrated their professionalism and ability to organise a joint operation by the three states,” Nausėda said.

According to Nausėda, the operation showed that “an individual is not just a pawn on the chessboard of geopolitics” and helped enhance Lithuania’s “prestige in the eyes of NATO allies”.

Online vote

In his address, President Nausėda proposed allowing expatriate Lithuanians to cast their vote in elections online.

“Lithuania can and must provide opportunities for its children scattered around the world to be citizens of our country like all of us,” Nausėda said. “Introducing electronic voting for Lithuanians living abroad could be the first step.”

The president did not say in which election online voting could be introduced.

Online voting has been debated for years in Lithuania, but has not approved until now due cyber security concerns.

LRT.LT