Butkevičius confirmed on Thursday that the list will include Loreta Graužinienė and Virginija Baltraitienė, the Labor Party's candidates for ministers of social security and labor as well as education and science, despite the fact that the president is critical about the two candidates.
"And who told you that it will not consist of 14 names? This is your own imagination. When I submit 14 candidates, we'll have a conversation with the president, and then we'll make decisions," Butkevičius told reporters when asked whether he planned to submit only 12 candidates after the president rejected the two candidates and the Labor Party does not plan to propose others.
"Their (the Labor Party's – BNS) presidium made the decision. Later on, if the president finds it unacceptable, then, of course, certain changes can be made. They know that very well," Butkevičius said.
He confirmed that the official list of ministerial candidates will be submitted to the president on Friday.
"That's the prime minister's business," Viktor Uspaskich, the Labor Party's leader, told journalists when asked what list he would propose submitting. He said earlier his party would not replace its candidates.
Butkevičius has confirmed on Wednesday that the president finds Graužinienė and Baltraitienė unacceptable candidates.
"The solution might be as follows. My goal is to have a strong Cabinet and it might happen that a Cabinet might be approved without two ministers," he told journalists on Wednesday.
Meanwhile the Presidium of the Labor Party confirmed on Tuesday the party will not replace its candidates.
The Social Democratic Party of Lithuania has already chosen its candidates for ministers, namely Rimantas Sinkevičius (transport and communications), Birutė Vėsaitė (economy), Juozas Olekas (national defense), Vytenis Andriukaitis (health), Rimantas Šadžius (finance), Linas Linkevičius (foreign affairs), and Juozas Bernatonis (justice).
The Order and Justice Party has chosen Valentinas Mazuronis as its candidate for the minister of environment and Dailis Alfonsas Barakauskas as a candidate for the minister of the interior.
The Electoral Action of Poles proposes Jaroslav Neverovič as the minister of energy.
Butkevičius knew about criteria all along
Prime Minister-Desginate Butkevicius was aware of qualification requirements for ministers at the start of cabinet formation, a presidential adviser said on Thursday.
"The president hopes that all candidates for ministers to be submitted by the prime minister will meet qualification requirements necessary for the execution of their direct duties and the EU Presidency. The prime minister-designate was informed about these requirements at the start of government formation," Daiva Ulbinaitė told BNS on Thursday.
Ulbinaitė reiterated the requirements for candidates the president mentioned on Wednesday, including, among others, the criteria of transparency.
"All ministers, irrespective of their party membership, should meet the following requirements: knowing the specific area they are going to be in charge of, transparency, ability to properly represent the state internationally, knowing the European agenda, and ability to speak one of the working languages of the EU," Ulbinaitė told BNS on Thursday.
