19 NOVEMBER 2009 A joint initiative of VŠĮ Mes Medija & www.litnews.lt Welcome to A year to Remember Ray Vyšniauskas & LiTnews Deimantė Dokšaitė They say a week is a long time in Welcome to the first edition of politics, so a year must be an eterni- LiTnews, a fortnightly English lan- ty. Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius guage newspaper. must be feeling an eon has passed With a small but dedicated staff since he formed a ruling coalition and the help of ELTA we will bring one year ago on 17 November 2008, you the news that covers day-to-day and took the reins of the Lithuanian life, and offer a review of the events Seimas, a coalition he prophetically that are important to Lithuania. named The Coalition of Change. With the help of our readers our aim The victory celebrations after last is to develop the newspaper with a mix year’s general elections will have to go of news, interviews and commentary down as the most short-lived in Lithua- that spans the full gamut of popular nian history, as within two months of its and expert opinion. first sitting the members of Seimas were It is quite fortunate that our maiden looking out of their windows at a mass issue coincides with the first anniver- protest that eventuated in the deploy- sary of the current Seimas, and as this ment of riot police and the use of tear gas sort of paper is always going to be a re- and rubber bullets. view of events, it is the perfect opportu- To be fair there were a lot of circum- nity to look back on the past year. stances way beyond the control of the Seimas and the government, number We also have interviews with one of which was an economy sucked Kęstutis Kemzūra, and Andrius spiralling downward by the worst world Užkalnis, as well as an article about economic recession since the Great De- opportunity in tough times by Vincas pression. Being at the helm of a small Party, the party of celebrities headed by as Speaker of the Seimas. working in a more transparent manner. Giedraitis. So please enjoy. nation allows little control on the waves Arūnas Valinskas, which in their first • October 17 Irena Degutienė is elected One of the main concerns of the of economic gloom that toss any country election won 16 seats and an instant invi- Ray Vyšniauskas Speaker of the Seimas. government was the dreaded ‘D’ word around, especially one that did not put tation to join the ruling coalition. – devaluation. While a floating currency Editor any reserves aside in the good years. • September 16 preparation for the next Looking back on the achievements of budget commences. along with a much larger population base Then there was the added intrigue of the current coalition government, you helped Poland ride out the worst of the the newly formed National Resurrection would have to say there is more bad than • September 20 the opposition launches economic storm, Lithuania’s problems good news, but let’s go through their an unsuccessful no-confidence motion were compounded by the fact that most litany of change. against Education and Science Minister bank loans were issued in euros, and a Gintaras Steponavi ius. • They got straight down to business č devaluation of 20% – 40% would have when Valinskas is finally elected Speaker IN BETWEEN THESE specific events meant a double hit on loan repayments, of the Seimas, but only after a controver- the government controversially consid- especially considering the already heavy sial second vote on 18 November. ered adding the Labour Party to the rul- falls in real estate prices. ing coalition, there was much criticism • Kubilius is confirmed as Prime Minister With no reserves the government of energy wasted on unimportant issues, on 27 November. chose to placate the concerns of the IMF especially under Valinskas’ tenure, the and EU economic gurus, and this meant • At the end of December the Seimas policy on car hire by members of Seimas, harsher fiscal measures, most notably worked until midnight in putting the fin- and the ill-advised ‘Protection of Minors through raised taxes and lowered wages, ishing touches on tax reforms with little against the Detrimental Effects of Public which in turn does little to raise popu- or no public consultation. Information’ legislation that brought larity. • December 22 the budget is passed by strong international criticism and EU THE ONLY CONSOLATION Lithua- the Seimas. condemnation. nian’s could draw was that things were • January 16 there is a meeting of trades While it is usual for politics to be still not as bad as in Latvia, with the union which end in riots in front of the a rough and tumble business, it is added expectation that if devaluation Seimas; breaking windows, calling out speculated by many that this is the least was deemed necessary, it would hit our the riot police and extensive use of tear liked government ever. In the 11 years northern neighbours first. gas and rubber bullets. since Vilmorus has been taking polls, While there is still talk of more cuts • May 19 the opposition launches an their data shows this government the and hardship to come, some are predict- unsuccessful vote of no-confidence in Fi- least liked, with the government (trust ing that as other larger economies seem nance Minister Algirdas Šemeta, but later 11.5%, distrust 59.9%), parliament to be moving out of recession, then he was sent to Brussels to fill the position (trust 4.8%, distrust 76.3%) and politi- Lithuania too may be either at the bot- vacated by President Grybauskaitė. The cal parties (trust 4.1%, distrust 76.7%) tom of the cycle or close to it. The threat post of Finance Minister was filled by taking the bottom three places in a poll of devaluation, though still present, is Ingrida Šimonytė. of general trust in public institutions. much subsided since summer and gov- • In June Valentinas Mazuronis, of the In research conducted by Eurobarom- ernment heads throughout the Baltic are Order and Justice Party, becomes the eter the popularity of the Lithuanian more confidently declaring it no longer Opposition Leader. Seimas is held in equal 25th position an issue. • July 22 the Minister of Social Security with Bulgaria among the EU 27 coun- So on the occasion of the Seimas’ first and Labour, Rimantas Jonas Dagys, is tries, trailing only behind Latvia. birthday, perhaps they might finally be replaced by Donatas Junkauskas, be- To the credit of the ruling coalition, able to move forward, rather than just cause he was not validated by President they learnt a lesson from the unfortunate paddle frantically in an effort to stay Grybauskaitė. riots in front of the parliament, which still. • Mid July the National Resurrection did prompt them to seek greater public This Seimas really has brought to light Party is split into two fractions, and on input into policy, and without accepting the full fury of the curse: May you live in October 15 Arūnas Valinskas is deposed all external advice, they seemed to start interesting times. News LiTnews LiTnews News The future of Lithuania is in the hands of creative people - Grybauskaitė At the initiative of President Dalia “Lithuania’s economic growth, its social Grybauskaitė, the Seimas and the Inter- well being, and the pride that its citizens have national Cultural Programmes Centre, a for their country will depend on our innova- forum for creative society has been opened tive ideas and our creative ability to translate for the first time in Lithuania according to them into reality,” the President said, placing a the Press Service of the President special emphasis on the importance of interac- Addressing members of the arts, culture, tion between culture, education, science, and educational, and business communities, who business. came together to discuss possible actions for President Grybauskaitė pointed out that using and streamlining the potential of creative a creative person was the spark that drove individuals to build a modern state, President Lithuania forward. Therefore, she said, we Grybauskaitė invited all of them - artists, scien- must seek ambitious goals, we must think and tists and entrepreneurs - to make a joint effort act as future disseminators of creative ideas not towards this purpose. only in Europe, but also worldwide. Energy security discussed by Lithuanian and Polish Presidents President Dalia Grybauskaitė met with her financing for this project from the European Polish counterpart Lech Kaczynski. Commission within the new EU Financial In Warsaw, the two Presidents discussed Perspective 2007- 2013,” President Dalia important energy-related issues: the course Grybauskaitė underlined. of building an electricity bridge connecting Lithuania and Poland, and the problems of The Presidents also agreed to co-patron secure energy supply in Europe. events scheduled in the coming year to com- “Lithuania is prepared to co-operate closely memorate the 600th anniversary of the žalgiris with Poland in implementing the electric- Battle, announced the Press Service of the ity bridge project, and will seek to secure President. Lithuania To Chair Chemical Weapons Convention Grybauskaitė still Copely citizenship in Lithuania will chair the Fourteenth Session of the violation of Constitution Conference of the States Par- most popular ties to the Chemical Weapons Vilnius, Nov 16 (ELTA) - A survey Andrius Kubilius, leader of the carried out in October shows Conservatives, most negatively. In conformity with the Con- or not Copely met the requirements Convention (CWC) from 30 stitution of the Republic of November 2009 to 1 Decem- that Lithuanian residents viewed An astonishing 82% expressed an for Lithuanian citizenship set out in President Dalia Grybauskaitė most unfavourable attitude towards the Lithuania, the Law on Citizen- the Law on Citizenship.