The Government of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Vyriausybė), officially the Government of the Republic of Lithuania (Lietuvos Respublikos Vyriausybė, abbreviated LRV), is the cabinet of Lithuania, exercising executive power in the country. Among other responsibilities, it executes laws and resolutions of the parliament, the Seimas, and the decrees of the President, manages state property and, together with the president, executes the foreign policy of the country. The Government also has the right of legislative initiative, puts together the state budget and presents it to the Seimas for approval.
The prime minister is appointed by the president, with the assent of the Seimas. The prime minister then forms the rest of the cabinet, with the assent of the president, and the Government and its programme are subject to approval by the Seimas.
The Government of the Republic of Lithuania exercises executive power in Lithuania. The powers of the Government are defined by the Constitution and laws of Lithuania.[1][2]
The Government has the responsibility to administer the affairs of the country, ensure its security and public order. It executes laws and resolutions of the Seimas as well as the decrees of the president. The government coordinates the activities of the ministries and other subordinate institutions, establishes, abolishes and controls government agencies, and submits proposals to the Seimas to establish and abolish ministries.[3] The government disposes of the property of the state and establishes procedures for its management and use.
The Government, along with the Seimas and the president, has the right of legislative initiative in Lithuania. The government prepares draft laws and presents them to the Seimas for consideration. The government also prepares a draft budget and submits it to the Seimas. The Government executes the budget approved by the Seimas.
In foreign affairs, the government establishes diplomatic ties and maintains relations with foreign states and international organizations. The Government shares the responsibility for managing the foreign affairs of the country with the president. The Government proposes and the president approves Lithuania's diplomatic representatives to foreign states and international institutions.
In local government, the Government appoints representatives to the municipalities to monitor whether the municipalities comply with the Constitution and laws of Lithuania and the orders of the Government.
The prime minister is appointed by the president, with the assent of the Seimas. Likewise, the ministers are proposed by the prime minister and appointed by the president. Within 15 days of the appointment, the prime minister presents the Government and its programme to the Seimas for consideration. The Government receives its mandate after the Seimas gives assent to its programme in a majority vote.
The Government is responsible to the Seimas for its activities. Likewise, the ministers are responsible to the Seimas and the president. The Government presents to the Seimas an annual report on its activities[4] and reports to the Seimas on the execution of the budget. Upon the request of the Seimas, the Government or individual ministers must give an account of their activities. The Government is also obliged to inform the public about their activities through the internet and other media, or through meetings with the people.
The Government returns its mandate to the president after the Seimas elections or the elections of the president, or upon the resignation of the Government. The return of the mandate after the elections of the president is largely ceremonial and allows the newly elected head of state to verify that the Government still has the confidence of the Seimas.[5] The Government is obliged to resign when the Seimas twice declines to give its assent to the programme of the newly formed Government, when the Seimas, in a majority secret ballot, expresses no-confidence in the Government or the prime minister, when the prime minister resigns or dies, or when a new government is formed after the elections to the Seimas. If the Seimas expresses no-confidence in the Government, the Government may propose to the president to hold a new election to the Seimas.
The president of Lithuania accepts the resignation of individual ministers. Ministers must resign when the Seimas, in a majority secret ballot, express no-confidence in them. When more than half of the ministers are changed, the Government must seek a renewed mandate from the Seimas or resign.
Structure
The government of the Republic of Lithuania consists of the prime minister and the ministers. The prime minister represents the Government and heads its activities. When the prime minister is not available or unable to hold office, the president may charge one of the ministers to substitute for the prime minister for no more than 60 days.[4]
A minister heads his respective ministry, resolving issues belonging to the competence area of the ministry and discharging other functions provided for by law. Ministers act directly subordinate to the prime minister. Another member of the Government, appointed by the prime minister, may temporarily substitute for a Minister.
Ministries
Ministries are the structures that allow the ministers to manage the fields assigned to them.[4][6] Ministries are established as public legal persons and are financed from the state budget.
Cultural and public information policies, copyright, libraries, museums and galleries, ethnic and regional culture and national minorities, cultural education and reading promotion, preserving and digitizing cultural heritage, literature and publishing, music, theatre, visual arts and film.[9]
Environmental protection, forestry, utilization of natural resources, geology and hydrometeorology, territorial planning, construction, provision of residents with housing, utilities and housing.[13]
Budget, taxation, state debt management, financial services, accounting and reporting, internal audit and internal control, renewal of the state-owned immovable property and Public and Private Partnership.[14]
Public safety, state border protection, state aid during emergencies and civil protection, migration, reform of the public administration and state governance system, development of local governance, regional development.[17]
Legislative process, registers, legal institutions, legal professions, criminal justice, registration of political parties, regulation of religious communities and associations, registration of civil status, civil disputes, protection of industrial property, forensics, consumer rights, compensation to violent crime victims.[18]
National defence system, including policy, training, management, military service and mobilization, intelligence and counterintelligence, international co-operation of institutions of the national defence system, military standardization.[19]
Roads and road transport, rail transport, water transport, air transport, traffic safety, transit and logistics, transport environment and transport of dangerous goods, transport accident and incident investigation, information society development, electronic communications, post.[21]
€1.245 billion
€20.613 billion
Institutions under the Government
Government agencies are established to participate in the shaping of a policy and to implement such policy. Government agencies are public legal bodies financed from the state budget.
Government agencies and institutions accountable to the government are:[22]
The Government resolves the affairs of state at its sittings by adopting resolutions by majority vote of all the members of the Government. The Auditor General may also participate in the sittings of the Government. Minutes are taken and audio recordings are made of Government sittings, however, the government sittings have not been universally publicly broadcast.[23]
A Government resolution adopted in a sitting is signed by the prime minister and the Minister of the corresponding branch of the Government.
The prime minister and the ministers are also entitled to attend the sittings of the Seimas, its Committees, Commissions and parliamentary groups, and to convey their opinion on the issues under consideration.
The prime minister and the ministers may not hold any other offices (except being members of the Seimas), may not be employed in business, commercial and other private establishments or enterprises, and may not receive any remuneration other than the salary for their respective Government offices. The members of the Government can, however, receive remuneration for creative activities.
The Office of the Government supports the Government in performing Government's and Prime Minister's functions. The Office of the Government is headed by the Chancellor of the Government.[24] Giedrė Balčytytė has served as the Chancellor since December 2020.
Current government
Ingrida Šimonytė has been serving as the Prime Minister since December 11, 2020
The current government of Lithuania is the 18th since the restoration of independence on 11 March 1990.
Kazimiera Prunskienė became the first Prime Minister of newly independent Lithuania, appointed by the Supreme Council on 17 March 1990, although the law governing the mandate of the government was only adopted on the 22 March.[27] Her government resigned less than a year later and was followed by those of Albertas Šimėnas, Gediminas Vagnorius, Aleksandras Abišala. These early governments were primarily occupied with ensuring the diplomatic recognition and economic support for the new country and managing tensions with the Soviet Union.[28]
The 1996 parliamentary election was won by the Homeland Union. The government was formed by the Homeland Union and Lithuanian Christian Democrats, with Gediminas Vagnorius appointed as the prime minister for the second time. In spring 2009, the Government survived the vote of no-confidence in the Seimas, but resigned shortly thereafter,[31] with the popular then-mayor of Vilnius Rolandas Paksas appointed to the post of Prime Minister. His government lasted only 5 months, before he publicly renounced and refused to sign the privatization agreement for Mazeikiu Nafta oil refinery, resigning as a result.[32]Andrius Kubilius served as the prime minister from November 1999 until the next election to Seimas in October 2000.
^"Government". Government of the Republic of Lithuania. 30 June 2015. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
^ abc"Law on the Government". Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania. 17 January 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
^Samoškaitė, Eglė (15 July 2014). "A. Butkevičius iš naujo paskirtas premjeru" [A. Butkevičius is re-appointed as the Prime Minister] (in Lithuanian). Delfi.lt. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
^"Ministries". Government of the Republic of Lithuania. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
^"About Us". Ministry of FOreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania. 28 October 2015. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
^"Strategic Goals". Government of the Republic of Lithuania. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
^"About the ministry". Government of the Republic of Lithuania. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
^"Competence areas". Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania. 2009. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
^"Areas of Competence". Ministry of National Defence Republic of Lithuania. 5 April 2011. Archived from the original on 31 May 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
^"Range of Activities". Ministry of Social Security and Labour. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
^Pakalkaitė, Vija (31 May 2006). "Tryliktoji Vyriausybė traukiasi" [The 13th Government is departing] (in Lithuanian). Delfi.lt. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
^Popovaitė, Inga (19 December 2008). "G.Kirkilo kabinetas – jau istorija" [The cabinet of G. Kirkilas is history] (in Lithuanian). Kauno Diena. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
