Lithuania: ministerial government and the EU factor
ENThis chapter highlights new developments of coalition formation and coalition governance in Lithuania. After 2008, the Lithuanian government had to face the financial crisis, and since early 2020, it has had to counter the Coronavirus pandemic. The country was not spared from geopolitical challenges especially those inflicted by aggressive foreign policy of Russia towards post-communist states. However, the Lithuanian evidence shows that it is barely possible to interpret any transformation of coalition governance patterns as the effects of the crises and the extraordinary circumstances. The absence of elaborate coalition agreements and the lack of political debates about policy reforms contribute to a continuation of the tradition of the ‘ministerial government’, one in which ministers with strong personalities act as ‘policy dictators’. During the first decades of democratic governance, the major question regarding the issue which political parties are being able to form a coalition was largely related to the juxtaposition of the parties of the left and of the right. In the post-2008 context, the ‘centrist’ positions, party newness, and party size have all become major aspects of this ability. Alongside, several facets of the EU factor became perceptible in the formation and functioning of coalitions. [Publisher annotation]
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