Lithuania’s top ethics body has launched an investigation into Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė over her trips to Italy and the Vatican, a move her office described as a routine process.
The Supreme Official Ethics Commission (VTEK) on Tuesday opened the probe following questions about the composition of official delegations during the visits than included Ruginienė’s family.
“The decision to launch an investigation is seen as a normal process that will allow an objective assessment of the questions raised,” the prime minister’s spokesperson, Ignas Algirdas Dobrovolskas, said in a comment to BNS.
He added that the government itself had asked the commission to evaluate how official delegations are formed and whether the practice complies with current legal regulations.
Under Lithuanian law, the prime minister has the authority to form government delegations for official visits, with their composition set by official decrees.
Dobrovolskas said that in international practice, family members of state leaders may sometimes be included in delegations when required by protocol.
“Such decisions are not related to private interests but to ensuring proper state representation,” he said, adding that similar practices are applied by other top officials, including the president and the speaker of the Seimas.
The investigation follows a complaint by MP Agnė Širinskienė, a member of the opposition Democrats “For Lithuania” group in the parliament.
Ruginienė visited the Vatican and Rome from March 6 to 8, accompanied by her husband and two children. The trip was reported to be funded by the Government Office, as the entire delegation was said to be performing official functions.
Širinskienė questioned a decree signed by the prime minister that included her spouse as a member of the delegation and granted accompanying status to their two children.
In her complaint, the lawmaker argued that Lithuania’s law on the reconciliation of public and private interests requires officials to recuse themselves from decisions that may involve personal or family interests or provide personal benefit.
Širinskienė also raised concerns about another trip by the prime minister to Italy with her husband during the opening of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.
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