Corruption: Lithuanian president's mails leaked
The leaked mails of the president Dalia Grybauskaitė are causing emotions to run high in Lithuania. At issue is her correspondence with the former chairman of the Liberals, Eligijus Masiulis, who is now standing trial for corruption. The mails detail his support of Grybauskaitė's decisions and criticism of the media, among other things. Lithuania's press see pressure on the president growing.
This scandal cannot be hushed up
For the daily Lietuvos rytas which published the leaked emails, President Grybauskaitė is now in an impasse:
“It's not about politicians exchanging emails, it's about the content of this communication. And it's scandalous. The presidential office tried to hush up the scandal - and achieved the opposite. The Lietuvos rytas story was picked up by other media, various politicians, legal experts and political scientists have been talking about it. ... Masiulis [the accused former minister] said it best: 'If we are talking about cleaning up the entire political system, then everyone needs to come clean.' These words send a clear message to the president.”
President and parliament in permanent headlock
The reaction of the Lithuanian political establishment to the email scandal is absolutely typical, political scientist Vytautas Dumbliauskas comments in Lietuvos žinios:
“The semi-presidential republic is just creating problems for itself. Grybauskaitė has demonstrated that she can be the leading figure in the game of politics. But this game has a price: constant conflict. This is probably why Ramūnas Karbauskis, chairman of the ruling Farmers and Greens Union, was so quick to talk about a parliamentary inquest and even impeachment proceedings. We all knew that relations between the president and the ruling majority in parliament were not good. In the last annual report she even accused the politicians of irrationality. ... And she was probably right - but this upset 'the farmers'.”