The Prime Minister of Lithuania has resigned. What happened?

Lithuanian Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas announced on July 31 that he is resigning from his positions as Prime Minister and Chairman of the Social Democratic Party. His resignation has already been accepted by the Council of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party.

This is reported by the Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT.

The Prime Ministerʼs resignation is also confirmed by President Gitanas Nauseda.

"Gintautas Paluckas called me this morning and announced his resignation. This is a fact," Nauseda said.

"Consultations will now begin. No fundamental changes have occurred. The Lithuanian Social Democratic Party, which won the last parliamentary elections and has a majority in the Seimas, will begin consultations on a possible coalition," he added.

According to the Constitution, if the prime minister resigns, the entire government also resigns. However, the president will instruct ministers to temporarily carry out their duties until a new coalition and government are formed.

The duties of the interim chairman of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party will be performed by the first deputy, Mindaugas Sinkevičius.

What caused the prime minister to resign?

Lithuanian Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas has been at the center of a series of high-profile journalistic investigations that led to law enforcement checks and ultimately his resignation. According to a joint investigation by Laisvės TV and the Siena Center, the company Garnis, co-owned by Paluckas, received a soft loan of €200,000 after he took office. The Central Commission for Official Ethics has become interested in the case.

Later, journalists found out that another company of Paluckas — Sagerta — received, but never repaid, a loan of hundreds of thousands of euros from the company Uni Trading, which is associated with businessman Dariusz Vilčinskas. At the same time, the prime minister himself publicly denied any business ties with Vilčinskas, although the latter admitted that he had invested in his business. In addition, in 2012, Paluckas bought a house from him worth more than €220,000.

Another episode was the Prime Ministerʼs purchase of an apartment in the center of Vilnius, which was sold to him at a reduced price by a Cypriot company. The land on which it is located was formed as an administrative unit by Paluckas himself, when he held a position in the city administration.

It also emerged that the prime minister had not fully paid compensation for the municipalityʼs losses in the so-called 2012 rat case — as of July 2025, only €4.9 thousand out of €16.5 thousand had been repaid.

The final blow to its reputation was dealt by the story of Dankora, a company founded by Paluckasʼ niece. It received European funding, most of which was spent on purchasing equipment at Garnis. After public exposure, Dankora withdrew the funding.

The prime minister himself denies all the charges. The Social Democratic Party, which he leads, declared its support for Paluckas and emphasized that it saw no reason to remove him until the checks were completed. However, a series of scandals caused a political crisis, which ultimately ended with the resignation of the head of government.

Author: Artemii Medvedok

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