LIBERTAS RECRUITS RESPECTED EUROPARLIAMENT

UNCLAS VILNIUS 000189 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL EUN LH SUBJECT: LIBERTAS RECRUITS RESPECTED EUROPARLIAMENT CANDIDATES IN LITHUANIA REF: DUBLIN 099 ¶1. Declan Ganley, founder of the Pan-European party Libertas, on March 31 visited Vilnius for the second time in four weeks and announced the first Lithuanian candidates to run for European Parliament seats under the party's banner. Those candidates included the top domestic-policy advisor to President Adamkus, who resigned that job the next day, and a well-connected business lawyer. The new and successful National Revival Party may join forces with Libertas in Lithuania. ¶2. The presidential advisor, Lauras Bielinis, said joining with Libertas did not make him a Euroskeptic, but he demurred when asked whether he personally supported the Lisbon Treaty, saying -- to the astonishment of reporters -- that he had never read it. Although Beilinis said at the press conference with Ganley that he had discussed his candidacy with President Adamkus, the president later said his advisor's decision had surprised him, and Bielinis resigned his job the following day. Lawyer Eugenija Sutkiene said her goal was to keep her country from ceding more power. She said Lithuanians do not want to receive laws from Brussels as they did for so long from Moscow. Neither Bielinis nor Sutkiene is associated with any Lithuanian political party. ¶3. Lithuanian Seimas (parliament) member Saulius Stoma, who tops the National Revival Party's list for the June 7 European Parliament elections, also spoke at the Libertas press conference. Although Ganley said discussions between the two parties were not final, another Seimas member from National Revival told us a few days earlier, "We have a deal with Libertas" on the European Parliament elections. National Revival was founded only in 2008, but is the third-largest party in the Seimas and is one of four parties forming the coalition government. ¶4. Libertas was not among 17 Lithuanian political parties to submit party lists to the GOL's Justice Ministry by the April 2 deadline. Thus, the only way Libertas can participate in the elections is by having its candidates listed among those of one of the 17 parties, which include the National Revival Party. Lithuania gets 12 European Parliament seats, all of which are apportioned among those that receive at least 5 percent of the votes (for individual parties) or 7 percent (for coalitions). CLOUD