“I think the minister did a very great harm. Had he left earlier, (public) confidence in the government, in the prime minister and the Seimas would have been less affected,” Gabrielius Landsbergis, the leader of the conservative Homeland Union–Lithuanian Christian Democrats, told BNS.
“We spent two weeks speaking about the minister’s mother, his land plots and so on. We could have avoided all this,” he added.
Eugenijus Gentvilas, the Liberal Movement‘s leader, said that Markauskas had not realized the seriousness of the situation.
“He did harm to himself. Neighbors come forward to say this has happened, his mother, his family got embroiled in the situation. These are purely psychological things,” Gentvilas said, commenting on the harm caused by the delay.
“I wonder if he (the minister) doesn’t feel guilty about triggering the conflict between the president and the prime minister. (There is) a semi-crisis in state governance “, he added.
The parliament’s opposition parties have collected the necessary signatures to launch an interpellation procedure against the agriculture minister.
Landsbergis said that this could have helped Markauskas, a member of the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union (LVŽS), to make up his mind.