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🇱🇹 Lithuania /Elections & Politics

Olekas Says Vėgėlė and Jankūnas Will Not Damage Lithuania’s Image in Brussels

From Delfi · () Lithuanian

Translated from Lithuanian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire Named sources Ongoing story
  • Speaker Juozas Olekas said Ignas Vėgėlė and Rimas Jonas Jankūnas would not harm Lithuania’s image by meeting Chinese representatives in Brussels.
  • The Seimas board rejected funding or authorizing their trip, but Vėgėlė said he planned to travel at his own expense.
  • The planned Sept. 7-9 visit has prompted a request for review by the Seimas Ethics and Procedures Commission amid strained Lithuania-China relations.

Lithuanian lawmakers remain free to travel and meet whom they choose, Seimas Speaker Juozas Olekas said, defending a planned Brussels visit that parliament’s leadership declined to approve as an official assignment.

Ignas Vėgėlė and Rimas Jonas Jankūnas plan to meet Chinese representatives in Brussels from Sept. 7 to 9. The Seimas board rejected their proposed business trip on Thursday. Olekas said they could still go, but would not be representing parliament as a delegated parliamentary mission.

“Members of parliament are free to travel. Free people in a free country can travel and meet whoever they want,” Olekas told reporters at the Seimas. He said foreign policy in parliament belonged to the Foreign Affairs Committee, while the Foreign Ministry handled foreign policy for the state and maintained the official position on whom Lithuania should engage and what it should discuss.

Members of parliament are free to travel. Free people in a free country can travel and meet whoever they want.

· Juozas OlekasThe Seimas speaker defended the lawmakers’ freedom to make the Brussels trip.

“They are intelligent people, and I think that when they go, they will not damage Lithuania’s image. I believe the members of parliament will handle themselves,” Olekas said. Vėgėlė confirmed to ELTA that he intended to attend using his own funds. Conservative lawmaker Radvilė Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė asked the Seimas Ethics and Procedures Commission to assess the planned visit.

Relations between Vilnius and Beijing deteriorated sharply after Lithuania opened a Taiwanese representative office in late 2021. China regards Taiwan as a province that cannot establish representative offices in countries with which Beijing maintains diplomatic relations, and imposed tough diplomatic and economic sanctions on Lithuania over the decision.

They are intelligent people, and I think that when they go, they will not damage Lithuania’s image. I believe the members of parliament will handle themselves.

· Juozas OlekasHe said the planned meeting with Chinese representatives should not harm Lithuania’s reputation.
About this summary

Originally published by Delfi in Lithuanian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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