Linas Jegelevičius
The most touted minister of the Liberal-Conservative Cabinet has resigned abruptly, pouring tons of water on the mill of gossips – is there anything else behind the official reason?
Defence Minister Arvydas Anušauskas announced his resignation last Friday at the prime minister Ingrida Šimonytė’s request. Explaining it, the PM said he had not been “active enough on key defence policies”, such as the conscription reform, the search for additional defence funding sources, and the expansion of the active military reserve.
Šimonytė has officially nominated Laurynas Kasčiūnas,
chairman of the parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defence, to President Gitanas Nausėda for the position of defence minister, the government said on Tuesday, the 19th of March.
Meanwhile, at the outset, Anušauskas hinted of unidentified lobbyists’ clout on the ministry’s arm procurement and, allegedly, corruption as being the reason for his resignation, but he backtracked from the suggestion, explaining that he spoke of the “context”, not of particular tenders.
However, Anušauskas’ sudden exit, with just a little bit over six months until the parliamentary election left, is raising eyebrows of many.
“We need to understand that we are talking of the resignation of the most popular – not just any – minister of the Cabinet. He enjoyed the biggest support of public and, in general, was seen as very good as the minister. The way the message of his resignation was announced could have been much better. It was announced late, and the suspicion is that real reasons for the PM’s decisions were not told yet,” Tomas Janeliunas, professor, political scientist Tomas Janeliūnas of Vilnius University, told BNN.
According to him, the junior Coalition partners also miss more explanations.
“Importantly, our key partners abroad were caught off guard by the decision.
So, from that point of view, we, as the state, will need more time to restore trust. The exit of the minister will, very likely, not add votes for the ruling Homeland Union (HU-LCD) in the coming elections (due in October – L.J.). No doubt, the question of the ouster will be raised by voters, and the leadership of the Homeland Union, part of which Anušauskas was, may struggle to come up with answers,” the analyst emphasised.
Anušauskas met Nausėda last Saturday, the 16th of March. After the meeting, he claimed he “had to close the door to companies” that tried to bribe the employees of the National Defence System, but they found their way to the Seimas.
The outgoing minister later clarified that
he was raising the issue of undeclared meetings between politicians and lobbyists.
Kęstutis Budrys, the presidential advisor on national security issues, said during his meeting, Anušauskas mentioned several individuals who might pose a corruption risk.
Budrys assured that the president will discuss these issues with the heads of the SIS and the prosecution service.
On Wednesday, the 20th of March, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda met with Laurynas Kasčiūnas, the incoming minister.
Kasčiūnas emphasised that Lithuania’s readiness to host Germany’s brigade, the planned conscription reform, a deal on additional defence funding, and the development of a drone program will be his priorities during the remainder of the Cabinet’s term.
Speaking to BNN before, Kasčiūnas underscored the importance of military commandant’s offices being set up in each municipality.
In his vision, such offices would take over local management in case of a foreign entity’s aggression. Now, Kasčiūnas says he would implement the idea within a month and take a more active role in integrating drones into the defence system,
something that the candidate says Arvydas Anušauskas, the outgoing minister, has failed to do.
“The priority, of course, is the German brigade. It’s an irreversible process already, but we have to be ready to do all the homework that is in our power to ensure that the brigade can reach full operational capability in 2027,” the MP said after meeting with president Gitanas Nausėda.
However, as LRT.lt, the website of Lithuania’s national broadcaster LRT, points out in its article published on Thursday, the 21st of March, Kasčiūnas’ “colourful political past contains anti-EU sentiments, as well as the flirtation with extreme nationalists and Europe’s far-right.”
In 1999, he became the chair of the Young National Democrats which, among other things, opposed Lithuania’s aspirations to join the EU.
“I’m not satisfied with a federal European Union where Lithuania’s status will be equal to a German federal land. And I’m also not satisfied with the fact that any general technical part of EU law is higher than the most respected norm of the constitution of the Republic of Lithuania,” Kasčiūnas spoke on LRT TV in 2003, LRT.lt reports.
During his national democratic days, Kasčiūnas served as a deputy to the party chair Mindaugas Murza, who, in 2003, was fined for hate speech after his party organised an anti-Semitic rally during a town festival in Šiauliai.
Later, Kasčiūnas did not talk much about his time in the far-right party.
Even after distancing himself from the National Democratic Party, Kasčiūnas continued to flirt with the far-right and made no secret of his sympathies for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Germany’s AfD party, and former US President Donald Trump.
According to LRT, in 2018, Kasčiūnas invited representatives of Germany’s far-right AfD party to visit Lithuania.
Kasčiūnas is also one of the most prominent anti-immigration hawks in Lithuanian politics. He was a vocal backer of the controversial pushback policy in response to irregular migration via Belarus.
Following the announcement of Kasčiūnas’ candidacy for defence minister, public figures also pointed out his stance against LGBTQ+ rights and same-sex marriage. In 2016, he signed a petition calling to ban an LGBTQ+ pride event in Lithuania.
On Thursday, LRT reported that more than 20 non-governmental organisations
and associations working in the field of human rights have appealed to president Nausėda asking him not to appoint Kasčiūnas, as the defence minister. They quote his far-right views and opposition to human rights.
“Kasčiūnas’ values contradict human rights,” Sandra Adomavičiūtė, director of the Open Lithuania Foundation (ALF), was quoted in a statement published on Thursday.
However, speaking to BNN, Vytautas Dumbliauskas, associate professor at Mykolas Romeris University in Vilnius, ardently defended Kasčiūnas.
“He is my former student, one very smart and active. He will definitely ramp up our defence during the time left in this government. Unlike Anušauskas, he is on good terms with HU-LCD leadership. Only malevolent people can go against Kasčiūnas,” the analyst emphasised.
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