Volume 9 Numbers 1/2

Winter/Spring 2000

Constitutional Watch
     A country-by-country update on constitutional politics in Eastern Europe and the ex-USSR

Lithuania - The official invitation to begin EU-accession negotiations-extended at the Helsinki summit on December 11-went almost unnoticed in Lithuania, which was mired in a severe economic downturn and faced, as well, a growing political crisis. The country's economic woes began with the Russian financial melt-down in August 1998, leading to a decline in exports to Russia, and were worsened by the policies of the then-prime minister, Gediminas Vagnorius, who increased both taxes and government expenditures as the crisis in Russia unfolded.

The government of Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius, of the ruling Homeland Union (Lithuanian Conservatives) (HU[LC]), is taking a more austere approach. On November 12, the Seimas (parliament) endorsed the government's belt-tightening program. The government also proposed a bill to postpone, for two more years, paying compensation to those who had lost savings because of the August crisis; parliament approved this bill on November 25. Compensation had been one of Vagnorius's pet projects and HU(LC)'s major campaign pledges. Frugality, however, was now the order of the day, evident in the 2000 budget, signed by the president on December 29. At the IMF's insis-tence, the projected budget deficit, 800 million litas ($200 million), or 1.7 percent of projected 2000 GDP, was significantly smaller than in earlier drafts.

In addition to financial pressures, the ruling party confronted political turmoil. The deeply unpopular sale of a state-owned oil complex to the American Williams Company has driven the popularity ratings of HU(LC) and its leader, Vytautas Landsbergis, to new lows. (For more on this controversial sale, see Lithuania Update, EECR, Vol. 8, No. 4, Fall 1999.) Due to its declining popularity, many politicians have been distancing them-selves from HU(LC). Among them is the leader of the Center Union (CU), Romualdas Ozolas, who resigned the deputy chairmanship of parliament on November 2. Ozolas harshly criticized Landsbergis's policies, claiming that he could no longer work with him. Six days later, CU announced it was dissociating itself from any decisions made by HU(LC), thus ending three years of having their cake and eating it too-in past years, CU had allowed a minister or two to work in HU(LC)'s government while opposing many of its decisions, including the Williams deal.

HU(LC) has suffered other defections. By February 1, 61 parliamentary deputies remained in the HU(LC) faction, 9 fewer than in 1996, the beginning of parliament's current term. Even after these losses, HU(LC) still holds a majority in the 141-seat parliament because some 15 deputies from the Lithuanian Christian Democrats routinely support HU(LC).

HU(LC)'s internal strife was especially evident at its extraordinary congress, which resumed on November 13 in the port city of Klaipeda (the first session was held in July). One of the congress's first moves was to abolish the party's board and, more importantly, the post of chairman of the board, traditionally held by Vagnorius or by the leading HU(LC) member in the government. This leaves only the post of party chairman at the pinnacle of the HU(LC) structure-a position that has been occu-pied by Landsbergis since the party was founded in 1993. The congress also censured Vagnorius and Rolandas Paksas, the country's most recent prime minister. Paksas resigned from HU(LC) and the premiership just before the Klaipeda congress, in protest over the Williams deal. Vagnorius did not attend the congress, although on its eve he published a letter critical of Landsbergis's policies. Landsbergis retorted that Vagnorius should choose between staying in HU(LC) or switching to the opposi-tion. So far, Vagnorius has simply been sniping at the policies of Kubilius and Landsbergis while avoiding an all-out confrontation. Vagnorius has fewer supporters within HU(LC) than Landsbergis. But if the party fares as poorly as expected in the next elections, Vagnorius may be able to oust Landsbergis as party chairman.

Meanwhile, on November 15, Paksas accepted President Adamkus's invitation to join his team of presi-dential advisers. Paksas was charged with supervising the energy industry, primarily its privatization. Although Paksas had little expertise in the area, his popularity skyrocketed after his public disavowal of the Williams deal, while Adamkus's has fallen. The appointment appeared to be an exercise in damage control. Indeed, Adamkus has distanced himself from both Landsbergis and the unpopular Williams deal, even implying that he was always against the sale. This contradicts the common perception that he was one of the deal's staunchest supporters. Paksas's tenure as energy adviser was brief, however. In February, he resigned to campaign in the local elections as the new chairman of Lithuanian Liberal Union (LLU), a party he has revitalized by joining. LLU's popularity has surged, rising from a party that in its ten-year history had never cleared the 5 percent hurdle (necessary for entering parliament) to become, suddenly, one of the country's most popular parties.

While new leaders emerge overnight, several tradi-tional parties are encountering internal crises and have even split. The Lithuanian Christian Democrats (LCD), once a party with a 10 to 15 percent share of the vote, is deeply divided and unlikely to clear the 5 percent barrier. In November and December, its conservative wing gradually ousted the so-called modernizers, who have formed their own faction in parliament and may form a new party. Similarly, the opposition Lithuanian Social Democrats (LSD) split because of a row between its chairman Vytenis Andriukaitis and deputy chairman of parliament Rimantas Dagys, also of LSD, who founded a new party, Social Democracy 2000.

The local elections on March 19 reflected some of these recent party developments. The New Union (Social Liberals) (NU[SL]) unexpectedly gained 16.3 percent of the vote. Paksas's LLU took second place with 13 percent. HU(LC) did better than many predicted and came in third with 11 percent. CU's anti-HU( LC) policies did not seem to help it in the poll as the party wound up with a disappointing 10 percent. The biggest surprise was a strong showing by the Farmers Party (FP), which took 9 percent by campaigning vigorously against entry into the EU and the World Trade Organization. The Lithuanian Democratic Labor Party (LDLP) also won 9 percent; LSD, 7 percent; and LCD, 5 percent. The five tradi-tionally strongest parties-HU(LC), LSD, LDLP, LCD, and CU-together gained just over 40 percent of the vote compared with their combined showing of 78 percent in the local elections of 1997. In the recent elections, the voters clearly showed their frustration with the established parties by opting for newcomers, such as NU(SL) and FP.

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On December 21, the Constitutional Court ruled that several provisions of the Law on the Courts, adopted in 1994, were unconstitutional and violated the principle of separation of powers. The major bone of contention is the minister of justice's prerogative to nominate judges for presidential approval. This provision contra-dicts Art. 112 of the Constitution, which charges the judicial college with counseling the president on the appointment and dismissal of judges.

The Court also ruled against the government-at least by implication-on January 12, just weeks after Kubilius's government announced its intention to reduce judicial salaries as part of its program to imple-ment significant budget cuts. In this instance, the Court published an explanation of the earlier December 21 decision, at the request of Supreme Court chairman Vytautas Greicius and justice minister Gintaras Balciunas. In the explanation, the Court clarified that any attempt to reduce a judge's salary or benefits or a court's funding violated the independence of judges and courts. The salary of higher judges is tied to the base salary of lower-court judges, which is around 10,000 litas ($2,500) per month. Currently, the Supreme Court chairman earns about 14,000 litas, while the Constitutional Court chairman earns 18,000 litas. If the government were to implement its plan to reduce the base salary of judges to about 5,000 litas, the salaries of the chairmen of the Supreme and Constitutional Courts would decrease to 10,000 and 12,000, respectively. In 1999, the average monthly income in Lithuania was roughly 800 litas ($200).

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Although the current economic and political turmoil has colored much of the Lithuanian scene these past months, the country is still confronted with issues from the past. On February 11, the Constitutional Court overturned the Vagnorius government's 1998 decision to deny special pensions to former high-ranking Communist Party officials. Some 1,900 such officials-Central Committee staffers, department heads, and municipal bureaucrats-regained their special government retirement benefits, originally granted under Soviet rule. The Court found that the government lacked the authority to decide on pensions, since Arts. 5 and 52 of the Constitution assert that only the legislature may do so.

Earlier, on November 23, parliament had adopted a lustration law that provides for the registra-tion and protection of persons who confess their ties to Soviet secret services during the period from 1940 to 1990. Self-declared former KGB agents would be guaranteed protection and confidentiality and their past would be made public only if one were to become president, a deputy, a member of a municipal council, a member of national or local government, a prose-cutor, or a judge or to be nominated to any of the above positions. Beginning February 1, all Lithuanian citizens who collaborated with the KGB have six months in which to report to a special commission and complete a special form at the Department of National Security. The names of collaborators who do not confess by August 1 could be made public. The HU(LC), which drafted the law, claims it will help former agents fend off possible blackmail by active agents of foreign secret services. The president promulgated the legislation on December 3.

This is the second lustration law in two years. The first came into force on January 1, 1999, and banned former full-time KGB officers from positions in public service and in some key sectors. On November 16, Dalia Kuodyte, director of the Lithuanian Genocide and Resistance Center, reported to parliament that 303 cases had been investigated since January 1, 1999, and 87 people were ordered to resign their jobs. Twenty of them have appealed in court, and five have won their cases. According to the law, investigations are conducted by a joint commis-sion of the Lithuanian Genocide and Resistance Center, which manages the KGB archive in Lithuania, and the National Security Department.

On December 14, the Supreme Court reduced the sentences in the Salcininkai case, in which several indi-viduals were charged with illegally attempting to establish Salcininkai, populated predominantly by Poles, as an autonomous region. In 1990, Salcininkai's local council declared itself a Polish national region, rejected Lithuania's Act of Independence of March 11, and pledged the region's allegiance to the Soviet Union. One of those sentenced, Ivan Kucevich, was acquitted, while three former members of the Salcininkai council were given mild sentences of two years corrective labor, which effectively means a 20 percent reduction of salary. The chief defendant in the trial, Leon Jankelievich, who was also the former leader of the local, pro-Soviet Communist Party, had his sentence reduced from four and a half years in prison to two years.

On February 9, the government approved an amendment to the Criminal Code that will allow indi-viduals accused of genocide to be tried in absentia if they are too ill to attend court. On February 15, parlia-ment adopted the amendments by 54 votes, with 6 against and 7 abstentions. The move should break an impasse in the prosecution of two high-profile cases of alleged Nazi collaborators. Ninety-two-year-old Aleksandras Lileikis and 91-year-old Kazys Gimzauskas are both accused of handing Jews over to Nazi death squads when they worked for the Lithuanian security police. Both trials were suspended due to the defen-dants' poor health. Government officials claim the amendment also will allow the initiation of court proceedings against six people suspected of taking part in the Holocaust and against nearly 70 who are suspected of involvement in mass killings of Lithuanians during the Soviet era.

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