Grybauskaite not to appoint Baliukonis as ambassador to Spain for personal reasons
Posted by editor on 10/15/09 • Categorized as Diplomatic news, Foreign Policy • 
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Lithuanian media announced that President Dalia Grybauskaite decided not to appoint Valteris Baliukonis as ambassador to Spain. The career diplomat was an adviser to President Adamkus and lately was foreign policy adviser to former Seimas Speaker Arunas Valinskas.
The Government Seimas Foreign Affairs Committee had approved Baliukonis’ candidacy. Madrid has also sent Agrement regarding Baliukonis. If the receiving country approves the proposed ambassador, the issue proceeds to the government and then to the President’s Office.
However, President Grybauskaite was questioning the personal Baliukonis qualities “I have no intentions of appointing this person anywhere. I know him and worked as commissioner for five years, I had contacts and will definitely not appoint such person from my personal experience,’ the President said to the journalists. Asked if Baliukonis’ lacking competence President replied ‘One has to know other ways of working’.
Lithuania’s ambassadorial position in Spain has been vacant since Sept. 1 2008 after Mecys Laurinkus was to head Lithuania’s diplomatic mission in Georgia. The BNS assumed that President Adamkus have given an informal consent to Baliukonis’ appointment to the Embassy in Spain when he was still working at his Administration.
This is probably the first case in Lithuania’s history when an ambassadorial candidacy is withdrawn after receipt of agreement from the receiving country. Lietuvos Rytas daily said that that it is a very strange decision since Spain is going assume the EU Presidency position from January of 2010.
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Similar situation is with Kosovo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_diplomatic_missions_in_Kosovo only Lithuania does not have ambassador appointed yet for Kosovo, (in comparison with Estonia and Latvia that appointed quickly after establishing diplomatic relations).