"The Lithuanian Social Democratic Party expresses solidarity and support to the economy minister, Vėsaitė, suggesting that her work should not be assessed by her public image shaped by the opposition. The public should wait for the minister's explanation and a conclusion from the Chief Official Ethics Commission," the party said in a press release circulated on Thursday.
The Social Democrats said the minister came under severe criticism after she began "addressing the accumulated problems and making efforts to restructure the heating sector, resolutely undertook the initiative of redistributing up to 600 million litas that Lithuania would have had to pay back to the European Union."
"It is the best solution for ministers to stay idle and quiet – then they wouldn't be accused of anything," the party's leader, Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius, said in the communiqué.
According to the press release, "the party also expects a reasonable assessment of the situation by coalition partners."
"Hasty condemnation may create a precedent where the culture of bullying may spread to the political arena and start dictating political decisions. We have to prevent such precedent in time," the Social Democrats said.
The party's partners in the ruling coalition, the Labor Party, urged the economy minister to resign amid the possible conflict of interest. The opposition Conservatives decided to initiate an interpellation.
On Wednesday, the Chief Official Ethics Commission received requests from Butkevičius and MP Agnė Bilotaitė to look into Vėsaitė's conduct when she flew to Kazakhstan on a business-class airplane chartered by a private company, Arvi. The body will decide on starting an investigation on May 28.
The Economy Ministry claims that the return ticket for Vėsaitė will cost 2,700 litas (EUR 782.6), while such trip may cost about 13,000 litas per person.
Arvi is currently holding talks with the Economy Ministry over the management contract of Marijampolė Free Economic Zone (FEZ).
