11 May 2007
Thank you for inviting me to take
part in this conference. I am willing to share my thoughts on the conference
theme and touch upon
the value-based principles in Lithuania today. My main conclusion is that an
individual’s life should rest on the universally recognised values which, in
their turn, should be reflected, as Aristotle put it, in “the highest art”, statecraft,
state administration, governance, and in one of its essential sections,
legislature, i.e. in the work of the Seimas. I believe those who represent the
nation here should have the inborn or at least developed priority as the final
goal, and I will refer to Aristotle again, of “any activity and determination”,
“the good” as that is what the whole nation aspires to.
Values as the common good
The national policy of Lithuania
as well as of every other state is reflected in its goals that are implemented
through political processes and concrete solutions. Values are the measure of
human mentality. Values shape decisions and assessments. Values are goals and
principles, too. “Values” means different things to different people,
includeing political actors.
Different phenomena, events and
theoretical definitions are often judged on the grounds of education and
knowledge, national traditions and ethical values. On the other hand, there are
quite a few criteria formulated on the basis of power, property, conformism and
private interest in our part of the world. It’s extremely bad when these are
transposed onto the decisions of individuals or even public institutional
structures.
The port of the latter’s departure, however,
should be national interests, the priorities of national strategic
development, and the understanding of the social and economic expectations of
the society and of a public policy covering legislation.
The key national interests of
Lithuania today might be the creation of a democratic state based on the rule
of law, and an open and fully secure, prosperous and educated state, because
such interests translate into the development of a civil society. These
interests, that is goals, should be the national guidelines for strategic development.
It is noteworthy that national
interests and general goods are shaped into actual solutions in the public
policy. As long as the national interests remain static, they give a sense of
direction for everyday solutions and for long-term prospects, but public policy
is a very dynamic and a relatively “disorderly” beast.
The priorities of national
development at a particular time go hand in hand with national interests. The
priorities must be redefined with the appearance of new challenges, significant
public events, social shocks, etc.
Priorities differ in scope,
duration and penetration. However they are being combined and interconnected by
ensuring their successful implementation supported by the necessary human and
financial resources, and, most importantly, by voicing an unequivocal political
will.
The current short-term priorities
of Lithuania are stipulated in the 14th Government Programme for
2006 – 2008 “In the Name of Unity and Wellbeing”. It highlights the most urgent
challenges to be addressed in order to meet public expectations: social and
regional cohesion, eliminating corruption, counteracting emigration and
demographic problems, etc.
Addressing the above challenges
means finding a compromise between the government and the citizens, among
different social layers, political forces and interest groups in the
post-integration stage. This calls for public policy solutions and for the
revision of the major political institutions, i.e. for the assessment of their
functional efficiency, capacities and acceptability.
Values in Lithuania
Due to radical economic and
political reforms Lithuania witnessed a rapid change in values, and the values
are not able to “catch up” with the fundamental and rapid changes. As a result
the values fail to maintain a tight linkage between the national interests, the
national development priorities, the expectations of the population, and
individual solutions within the public policy. In other words, the values can’t
“glue” the main elements of the political system and the solutions made.
I have already mentioned that
value orientations depend on a period of time, on the challenges and the hopes
of the nation. The Lithuanian society has basically cherished hopes of a
socio-economic nature in recent years that, first and foremost, result from
social shortcomings, poverty, low income, growing wealth differentiation, and
other problems of the sort.
The population finds the problems
of a public and political character no less urgent. Among those the focus is on
the gap between the government and the citizens, on public administration
traditionally followed by bureaucracy and various types of corruption, as well
as political problems.
The problems listed above are
barriers to higher effectiveness of state administration accompanied by a more
serious problem, which is a negative public opinion on the trends, the state,
and its values.
May I remind you how active we
were during the national independence movement period. We were the citizens
holding a hot sun of values in our hands, the sun of Lithuania’s freedom. We
kept to our nation’s values and no soviet official or politician could offer a
trade-off. Where has the sense of our civil values gone?
An active civil society takes
roots in democratic values. And it is a civil society alone that can develop
and foster democratic values, the most significant of which are the following: to
apply the principle of the separation of powers; to maintain the independent
judiciary; to exercise strong self-government and apply the principle of
subsidiarity; to raise the effectiveness of political parties; and to seek the
independence and objectiveness of mass media.
The factors mentioned above are
interconnected. If one fails, the others become less effective. On the other
hand, the development of democracy has reached the stage when the society must
agree on making democratic values a priority. I think this conference will
catalyse the agreement.
The democratic values and
principles are stipulated in the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania.
However this is no guarantee of their penetration. Europe and Lithuania, of
course, come to comprehend the principle of the “participatory democracy”.
It implies the public’s wish to
take an active part and engage in public policy decision-making, ensure its
transparency and a direct link between public authorities and citizens, the
citizens being the fundamental value of the society. Why is there no link? In
my opinion, this is a natural legacy of the earlier processes. Government seemed
alien then, people were afraid of it, and did not consider themselves to a part
of it. It is obvious that active involvement of citizens is the most important
value we could not make use of then.
But why don’t we make use of it
now? First, because of the factor of social exclusion. Social welfare is
one of our value goals. A possibility to participate in the public arena
depends on the forms of social exclusion. The impact of this factor should be
reduced and thus the social capital would be increased.
Another means to reduce exclusion
is sustainable economic, social, and cultural development of the regions.
A large part of our population is
abroad, in emigration. That is the most active part of our society,
young people, idealists, full of ideas, energy, and hopes. If we manage to
entice them back, we will be richer in both the material and spiritual senses.
What we can offer is an opportunity
to private property and its security. As the guarantor of freedom this
value encourages individuals to be active.
More attention should be paid to
a favourable business environment. Dealing with bureaucratic barriers
and other restrictions does not encourage involvement in public life.
The functioning of parties
is fundamental to a political life – voters look for value landmarks. It is
unfortunate that the parties can’t always deliver. Then the question arises
whether all the parties disseminate positive ideas and are ready to fight a
fair political battle.
I believe that the forthcoming
amendments to the laws regulating the funding of elections and political
advertising will help the parties improve their activities significantly.
Party programmes should become
the documents to be classified by political values; then the electorate could
better identify the silhouette of a party. Sadly enough, so far heralds of
promises are more popular than the postulates of party programmes.
Legislature must guarantee the
dissemination of values
The Lithuanian public is still in
doubt about the democratic character of our political system and about the rule
of law. Although the Constitution provides equal opportunities for all, we
continuously hear insistent requests for social justice and see wealth
differentiation growing and poverty and shortages persistent; there are traces
of bureaucracy and corruption everywhere.
The consequences of the decisions
taken are often very different from what was expected before they were taken.
Our people are concerned about a huge salary gap in the public sector and the
benefits drawn from residing in apartments provided by respective public
offices. The ambiguity and instability of values, the lack of principles and
consistency in abiding the values in politics offer awkward alternatives and a
conflict of interests. The absence of clear and stable values makes it
difficult for social accord to be reached.
Parliamentary business is not
devoid of the problems described. Deliberations on the Amendments to the Law on
Hunting, for instance, showed a clash between the need to protect ownership
and, let’s be frank, narrow hunter’s interests. Another example is a value
conflict over amending the Law on Value Added Tax and granting the right to
companies to get a partial VAT refund on expensive cars – to give a priority to
the interests of private business entities rather than a priority to a
possibility to have higher budget revenues and accelerate the resolution of
social problems.
I would like to generalise by
saying that values in politics are not the products of a mechanical exercise of
legislating, they develop when the enforcement of the legislation is
guaranteed. Laws don’t work unless they are drafted by soul and have a value
contents. With those components in place, popular trust in government and its
institutions will be there too. This has been and continues to be our goal.
