«According to the president’s opinion, specific cases of expenditure by Seimas deputies related to parliamentary activities and the procedure for reimbursing these expenses from the state budget should be clarified by the deputies themselves. When considering a change to the existing procedure, the system as a whole should be taken into account, rather than individual persons,» the president’s press service commented for the Elta news agency.
This position of the Office of the President is much softer than that expressed regarding the transparency of the use of funds allocated for the activities of a municipal council deputy by the Minister of Finance Gintarė Škėsta, the Minister of Culture, and the then Minister of Education, Science and Sports Jurgita Šiugždinienė. At that time, the head of state stated that he no longer saw any possibility for the ministers to continue working in the government.
Meanwhile, the Main Commission for Ethical Affairs (MCEA) itself ruled at the end of January that President G. Nauseda had violated the law on the approval of public and private interests. The commission’s conclusion stated that the visit of the president and the ambassador of Lithuania to the United Kingdom to the musical «The Phantom of the Opera» was of a private nature, and it was paid for by the embassy funds.