Germany’s Social Democratic Party says it is watching the political situation in Lithuania after the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party formed a ruling coalition with the Dawn of the Nemunas party whose leader Remigijus Žemaitaitis is on trial for anti-Semitism.
“We are closely following the developments in Lithuania,” the Social Democratic Party of Germany told BNS.
Earlier this week, the LSDP’s candidate for prime minister, Gintautas Paluckas, said he had explained to his German colleagues the “factual situation” in Lithuania, saying that “there is and there will be no anti-Semitism” in the Social Democrat-led government.
The German Social Democrats refrained from comments on the conversation between Paluckas and Lars Klingbeil.
“The phone call between our party leader and Mr Paluckas is a matter between Mr Klingbeil and Mr Paluckas,” the party said.
Politicians from other countries condemned the inclusion of the Dawn of the Nemunas in the new ruling coalition in Lithuania last week when its composition was announced. They included Ben Cardin, chairman of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Michael Roth, the Social Democratic (SPD) chairman of the German Bundestag’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, Michal Kaminski, a deputy marshal of the Polish Senate, and Yuli Edelstein, chairman of the Israeli parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee.
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Asked earlier whether he was not afraid that his party might be expelled from the Party of European Socialists’ family, Paluckas said he did not rule out that the issues in question would be discussed, but he was ready, together with LSDP leader MEP Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, “to give very orderly and open answers to those questions”.
Žemaitaitis on Monday sent a letter to the ambassadors of NATO and EU member states, as well as Israel, in an effort to reassure them that he does not hold anti-Semitic views.
The Constitutional Court has found Žemaitaitis to have broken his oath and grossly violated the constitution because of his public statements about Jews and Israel. Following the ruling, the Dawn of the Nemunas leader resigned as an MP to avoid impeachment, which enabled him to run for president and parliament in this year's elections.
The politician denies any anti-Semitic intent, claiming that his social media posts only criticised Israel.
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