Gabrielius Landsbergis, the foreign minster nominee in the new cabinet of Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė, assured that Lithuania’s foreign policy would not change under the new government.
According to the new foreign minister, the principle of good neighborliness with Poland and the Baltic States will continue because the security of Lithuania depends on it as well as does close integration with the European Union and maintenance of strong transatlantic ties.
Landsbergis told Lithuanian public TV LRT that he wanted Poland to be the leader in the region, and sees it as “a strong influential country that contributes to the strengthening of the economic and military security”.
In the context of him wanting Poland to be a leading state in the region, Landsbergis observed that the “dispute with Brussels did not strengthen Poland’s position in the EU”.
The journalist interviewing Landsbergis pointed out that his remarks on Poland in this respect contrasted with those of Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda who has refrained from any comments on Poland’s domestic politics or standing in the EU. The new Lithuanian foreign minister nominee stressed however that since Lithuania regained independence, there had been no differences between the head of state and the minister of foreign affairs in terms of the country’s foreign policy and that he wanted it to stay this way.
President Gitanas Nauseda approved the composition of the new government earlier this week and the Lithuanian parliament began discussing its program. The new cabinet will start work after the ministers have been approved and sworn in.
Landsbergis is the 38-year-old chairman of the Homeland Union (TS-LKD) – Lithuanian Christian Democrats’ party, which won the October elections in Lithuania and formed a coalition with two liberal parties. He is a history and international law graduate and was a career diplomat before becoming a MEP in 2014. He entered the Lithuanian parliament in 2016.
He is a grandson of Vytautas Landsbergis, who was the first head of state of Lithuania after its independence was declared from the Soviet Union in 1990, and served as the head of Seimas, which is the Lithuanian Parliament.
