Lithuania’s president awaits answers over prime minister’s wife’s hiring

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda says questions about the prime minister’s wife’s public-sector employment should be answered clearly before officials draw conclusions.

The questions concern Aistė Sinkevičienė’s employment at Kaunas district municipality and at the municipality-controlled Raudondvaris Manor. Nausėda said it was important to establish the conditions under which she was hired and whether her work achieved results. “Work without results is apparently simply of no benefit to society,” he said in an interview with Žinių radijas.

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I do not think we should somehow try to leave the questions about the prime minister’s wife’s employment unanswered. I think it is necessary to answer very clearly under what conditions she was hired.

Sinkevičienė has worked for the Kaunas district municipality since 2013. After returning from maternity leave in 2023, she became a senior specialist in the Department of Public and International Relations. In July 2024, she was appointed department head without a competition.

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It is very important to answer whether certain results were really achieved in that work, because work without results is apparently simply of no benefit to society.

The report said she also works half-time as a public relations specialist at Raudondvaris Manor, remotely. Her contact details are not publicly listed, and the deputy director of the institution said she did not know of such a colleague. The deputy director added that the manor’s director handles public relations because no specific employee is responsible for it.

Sinkevičienė’s income exceeded 73,500 euros last year, with about one-quarter coming from her work at the manor. Nausėda also urged greater focus on the prime minister’s current work rather than earlier questions about land transactions in Jonava and his doctoral dissertation. He said institutions should establish clearer rules for hiring people in public bodies.

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In the future, I think the institutions we are discussing should establish clearer rules for how people are hired.