The candidate for Lithuanian culture minister, Ignotas Adomavičius, has dismissed the 40,000-strong petition initiated against him by cultural sector workers as a “bubble”.
"Couldn't those 40,000 people who signed the petition be a bubble of something we don't really know about, like the opposition or other people we can't verify? And that distorts the whole picture," he told reporters at the Presidential Palace on Wednesday.
Appearing visibly emotional, he told reporters that "my teacher wished me luck, my classmate called me yesterday from Switzerland, she is a wonderful pianist, she wished me luck, my friends write me messages”.
The cultural community is outraged by Adomavičius' nomination for minister and plans a protest outside the Presidential Palace on Thursday.
Adomavičius has no work experience in the field of culture and currently serves as an adviser to one of the vice speakers of the Seimas and is a member of the Nemunas Dawn party.
He admitted that he is not very familiar with the laws governing the cultural field.
"Yes, my knowledge of cultural legislation is not extensive, as I am not a lawyer. However, I believe that I will be able to assemble a competent team to assist me in identifying, understanding, and interpreting these laws, and this does not pose a significant problem," he stated.
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If the president appoints him, Adomavičius said he would be "the minister of culture for the whole of Lithuania and all Lithuanians around the world".
"I will make every effort to meet with everyone to find a common consensus. I will make every effort," he added.
Adomavičius named the strengthening of the Lithuanian language as one of his key priorities, saying that "sometimes you can't communicate in Lithuanian when you go to the shop".
The politician also vowed to make every effort to ensure that the memory of the Holocaust and Genocide Remembrance Day return to the "highest level of culture".
Adomavičius said he did not support the process of de-Sovietisation.
He also said he believed that stricter sanctions should be applied when performers who have performed in Russia or Crimea or who have ties to the Kremlin are invited to Lithuania or perform here: "We need a filter".
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda vowed to first meet with him before deciding whether to approve his nomination.
"Recently, there has been a significant increase in their number. But I will say one thing: people have already written him off without even getting to know him properly. I think that in this complex situation, this internal complex situation, we should not be issuing ultimatums to each other. Those ultimatums lead nowhere. They only serve to further divide the people of Lithuania, which is the last thing we need right now," Nausėda said.
Nausėda had previously stated that he would not approve politicians belonging to this party as ministers, but as the government crisis deepened, he ultimately changed his position.
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