Seimas approved Virginijus Sinkevičius’ nomination as candidate for the European Commissioner

Press release, 22 August 2019

 

Virginijus Sinkevičius was approved by the Seimas as the European Commission Member candidate.

 

The representatives of the majority of the Political Groups expressed their support for the current Minister of Economy and Innovation.

 

Stasys Tumėnas, a Political Group colleague, who spoke on behalf of the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union Political Group, presented highly positive comments about the candidate: ‘I believe that the incumbent Minister Sinkevičius is well-prepared to take this position. He has been working in an efficient and consistent manner serving as the Lithuanian Minister of Economy and Innovation: from the change of the name of the Ministry of Economy to the development of a coherent innovation policy; implementation of a digital economy policy; pooling of information resources; search for synergy among researchers, entrepreneurs, manufacturers and traders, and promotion of cardinal transformation of research valleys.’

 

Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, Chair of the Liberals Movement Political Group, noted that even though her Group was in favour of the Minister’s candidature, there were some doubts raised as to whether the candidate’s young age would not be an obstacle in his way: ‘Will a record-young Commissioner be in possession of a sufficient political weight among other European leaders?’ Consequently, the Group decided to vote freely.

 

Jurgis Razma, Deputy Chair of the Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrat Political Group, acknowledged that there were diverging opinions within his political group: ‘There are MPs feeling positive about his candidature, and we thus have been considering whether to vote freely or refrain from approving this nomination as there have been colleagues who have doubts related to the candidate’s lack of political experience and knowledge. Therefore, we suppose the consideration of his nomination at the European Parliament can be rather complicated.’

 

The Political Group of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party have decided to reject the candidacy of Mr Sinkevičius. ‘It is always a good thing to achieve certain positions, have experience and knowledge in a given field at a young age, but the problem lies elsewhere. This is a lack of basic knowledge on the functioning of the European institutions’, said Julius Sabatauskas, Chair of the Political Group.

 

Aušrinė Armonaitė, Member of the Non-attached Members’ Political Group, argued that ‘this candidate is worthy of trust when it comes to representing Lithuania and Europe in European affairs.’

 

The protocol decision On approving the nomination of Virginijus Sinkevičius as a candidate Member of the European Commission (draft No XIII-3761) was approved by 90 MPs voting in favour, 10 against and 6 abstentions.

 

 

Saulė Eglė Trembo, Chief Specialist, Press Office, Information and Communication Department, tel: +370 5 239 6203, e-mail: [email protected]