News about the foreign minister’s family property in Greece has caused the opposition to question his motives. The politician himself happens to be on vacation.
Last week, the daily Lietuvos Rytas reported that the family of Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis owns a villa on the Greek island of Aegina, just south of Athens.
According to the report, the 313-square-metre property was purchased by Landsbergis’ spouse Austėja Landsbergienė in February 2022, when she transferred the downpayment of 255,000 euros.
Landsbergis, who is the leader of the conservative Homeland Union (TS-LKD) party, is the richest member of the cabinet thanks to his wife who owns a network of private kindergartens.
In her asset declarations for 2022 and 2023, Landsbergienė indicated that she owned real estate abroad worth 795,000 euros.
The parliamentary opposition has demanded that Landsbergis give explanations about his family property in Greece. Specifically, they question the date of the purchase, February 2022, which coincided with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This gives rise to suspicions, they argue, that the foreign minister’s family was making plans to flee the country in case the war escalated.
“[...] doesn’t the fact that the minister of foreign affairs is hastily acquiring property as far away from his country as possible send an ambiguous message to the Lithuanian people and investors that the government has no intention of defending the country, accepts no responsibility, and is preparing to leave Lithuania as soon as possible?” reads the document drafted by the opposition.
It also asks why Landsbergis did not publicly report the purchase of his spouse, whether he did not ask the Greek authorities for any assistance in the deal or received any concessions.
Opposition MP Agnė Širinskienė, member of the non-affiliated group, says the parliament expects that Landsbergis will answer the questions on September 10, the first day of the parliament’s autumn session.
MP Jurgis Razma, who leads the conservative political group in the parliament, told reporters on Tuesday that Landsbergis should respond to the opposition’s questions.
“If the public has questions, if the media has questions, it is always the duty of politicians to answer them. In this case, I think the need is obvious,” he said.
He added, however, that the purchase had been planned long before the start of the Russian invasion.
“It is only a coincidence that the money was transferred in February [2022],” Razma said. “So I think that both for us and for everybody, the details would be clearer after Gabrielius Landsbergis’ explanation.”
Parliament Speaker Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen said on Tuesday that the opposition’s questions to Minister Landsbergis were “motivated, at least in part, by the [upcoming general] elections”. However, she agreed that Landsbergis should still present his explanation.
“I’m not really interested in my fellow politicians’ real estate. It was news to me, and perhaps there is a lesson here for all politicians, that it is best to be as open as possible about all large purchases, because sooner or later, and usually at election time, this information comes to light,” Čmilytė-Nielsen told LRT TV.
Landsbergis defends his right to privacy
Landsbergis, who is on vacation this week, commented on the situation in an interview with the news agency Elta published on Wednesday afternoon.
He insisted that the purchase was properly declared as required by law, while reporting on his family property – including aerial photos – crossed the acceptable bounds.
“This is a private house, this is a private space. In my opinion, this is not correct behaviour,” he said about the discussions, insisting he had not commented before in order to protect the privacy of his family.
He also rejected any speculations that the property in Greece was purchased as an escape plan in case of military escalation.
The family started looking for a vacation home back in 2020, he said. “The real estate agency offered us a house in 2021 [...]. Then we started looking at it specifically and the process came to its natural conclusion [in 2022],” he told Elta.
“My place is in Lithuania, I defend Lithuania with the instruments that the voters have entrusted to me and that I have. I intend to continue to do so, and so will my family,” Landsbergis insisted.
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