The Lithuanian Social Democratic Party’s candidate for prime minister Gintautas Paluckas says his government will not change the country’s policies towards Russia and Belarus.
He made the promise during his Thursday meeting with member of the opposition conservative Homeland Union–Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) political group in the parliament, Seimas.
“There should not be any improvisation here, neither from me individually, nor from the Social Democrats, nor from the government,” Paluckas said, adding that foreign policy should be guided by a broad-based consensus.
“As regards Belarus or Russia, I believe we have reached that consensus and there should be no improvisation,” the Social Democrat said.
According to Paluckas, the effectiveness of sanctions “can be widely debated” and is also being debated in the European Union.
“However, the new government is certainly not going to abandon any sanction packages, let alone challenge them,” he said.
Paluckas also said that his bid to normalise relations with China was not about personal business.
“I hope that no one has this impression, and the assumption itself is much more wrong than we might think. First of all, I have not been involved in any business or its management for some time now, for obvious reasons. I am staying away as a silent or passive shareholder,” Paluckas said.
The politician told BNS in early November that his government would seek to re-establish full diplomatic relations with China, but he had no intention to make excessive concessions.
The Social Democratic candidate for prime minister said he would seek that the Lithuanian ambassador be returned to Beijing and the Chinese ambassador to Vilnius.
BNS reported earlier that Garnis, a battery system maker co-owned by Paluckas, was buying Chinese lithium batteries for its products in small quantities through intermediaries in Poland and Germany, but claimed to be looking for alternative suppliers.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda is also in favour of normalising relations with China, but insists this must be done “in mutual interest”.
Relations between Lithuania and China soured in 2021 when a Taiwanese mission opened in Vilnius. Beijing unilaterally downgraded its diplomatic presence in the country and imposed trade restrictions.
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