Kirkilas about departure to European Parliament: Balčytis isn‘t telling me anything

MP Gediminas Kirkilas said that he has “no idea” when his fellow member of the party Zigmantas Balčytis will refuse his MEP mandate and will give him the spot in the European Parliament. After he announced a new position in the international organization, Z. Balčytis says to wait a little.

MEP Z. Balčytis before the elections of the chairman of the Social Democratic party back in March said that he refuses the post in MEP since he decided to have an international career.

“Life has given another unexpected challenge: I received the offer to participate in the activities of an international organization, a part of the time spending in Europe and the United States. The activities – world economy, finance, forecasting and modelling” said the Social Democrat.

More than two months later he said that he will give up MEP in mid-May, the Z. Balčytis still works in EP and speaks mysteriously about his new job.

In turn, G. Kirkilas, who should replace Z. Balčytis in EP after hearing the question about the trip in EP is reluctant to speak. When a journalist asked, when ids he going to leave the Parliament he she said: “I have no idea and have no interest. Why should I be interested? When Zenonas Vaigauskas is going to ask me, then I will.

G. Kirkilas also said that he hasn’t heard from Z. Balčytis. “Now my colleague Balčytis hasn’t said anything and so I’m not interested. Why say anything? I don’t know, ask him. I don’t know why” said G. Kirkilas.

However, the MP said that he’ll go to EP if Z. Balčytis will eventually give up his spot to him.

Z. Balčytis: let’s calm down

MEP Z. Balčytis after hearing the question of the new office, initially laughed: “I will leave the EP. Calm down. He promises to leave the current job in a month. Then his place would be taken by G. Kirkilas and instead the latter politician Social Democrat Bronius Bradauskas would return to the Parliament.

Z. Balčytis said that in the following days his future workplace should present themselves to the public and then they will answer all of your questions. But the paradox is that the organization should have presented themselves last week but it didn’t happen.

“They are now planning to introduce themselves, if all goes well, since a lot of cyber-attacks are happening. Then I would give all phone numbers and you could check” Z. Balčytis suggested to LRT.lt. The MEP said he can’t “talk too much because he had signed confidentiality. “They will introduce themselves, explain the goals of the institution and a lot of other things, how they’ll be called. This affects countries and institutions” the politician described the new workplace.

“The institution will serve as an umbrella body, it talks about various international rating agencies, perhaps even the individual Member States’ evaluations estimates of the International Monetary Fund, proposals, what they should or should not do. And since it’s practically private organizations, they have to be supervised from above, such a superstructure is created by experts. This body, may be referred to as the Board and it will have to manage all proposals related to the Member States, assessments on their development prospects and ratings. There should be 9 board members, one of them offered me to participate” told Z. Balčytis.

According to him, the board will meet in New York once a month. Z. Balčytis plans to have offices in Brussels and Vilnius.

He stated that the pace of work is similar to the current one, there would be some sessions, he would fly to America once a month while the rest of the time “you can work using the Internet and information technology means”.

When LRT.lt hinted that a lot of people in Lithuania started to doubt whether the politician will actually leave the, EP Z. Balčytis said: “You may doubt but life goes at its own pace. Maybe we want everything to happen quickly but you can see how … There’s a new institution that wants to present itself first. Some colleagues also called me here but as long as the institution don’t present themselves, I can’t make any other actions.

When speaking to LRT.lt, Z. Balčytis said that life will show if the new job will be for the better. “You know, life gives certain challenges. In EP I stayed for seven years, everything is more or less clear. New experiences, new actions … I made a decision that things need to change. Life will show whether it will be for the better or for the worse but I have to do some work there” assured Z. Balčytis.

When the politician was asked whether he is going to ever take part in elections in Lithuania, he suggested “to leave it for the future.”

Political scientist: it’s difficult to understand why they chose Z. Balčytis

Professor in International Relations and Political Science Institute and political scientist Kęstutis Girnius says that he was surprised when he heard the news that Z. Balčytis received an invitation to participate in the international organization.”

“It’s a responsible position where you really have to have a knowledge about finances. And not just about finances but things linked to the markets. And I always wondered if Z. Balčytis has the needed experience, especially since he is not a young person. I found it difficult to understand why the company would risk hiring that kind of a person for that job. If it suddenly appeared that this won’t work, I wouldn’t be surprised” commented K. Girnius to LRT.lt.

According to the political scientist, Z. Balčytis was too quick to report changes in his lives: “Maybe it would’ve been better to wait. When you have a contract, then you can talk about it. If there was something to announce, he probably would have already announced it. It’s clear, if he mentioned it that he’s going to work, when he has to start. And if there’s no contract yet, you can stay silent” said K. Girnius.

Z. Balčytis was elected as an MEP from the list of the Social Democratic Party.