Gintaras Abaravičius, head of the Trakai National Historical Park, appealed to the court Ministry of Culture the decision on the announcement of the competition for these positions.
At the end of October, he appealed to the Vilnius District Administrative Court (VAAT), requesting to annul the decision of the Ministry of Culture dated September 25 regarding the announcement of a tender for the position of director of the Trakai Historical National Park Directorate.
According to G. Abaravičius, the ministry violated the provision of the Civil Service Law that the competition for the position of head of the institution is announced no later than six months before the end of the term of office of the head of the institution, and its results are announced no later than one month before the end of the term.
According to G. Abaravičius, he was appointed head of the Trakai National Historical Park after winning a competition in 1997. However, at that time, the laws did not establish terms of office, they were introduced after the adoption of amendments to the Civil Service Law.
After these amendments entered into force on January 2019, 1, the first term of office of managers appointed for an indefinite period also began to count.
In this way, G. Abaravičius' first term of office will end on January 2024, 1.
In addition, the Civil Service Law provides for the possibility of appointing a well- and very well-rated manager for a second term without a competition.
"Regarding this institution, it was probably very clear that a manager's competition would be organized. I would think that just that extension is a rarer possibility than the announcement of a tender," Minister of Culture Simonas Kairys told BNS.
He was surprised by the park manager's decision to go to court to issue a tender.
"We have a long-term leader who was apparently afraid to compete, to present his vision, to get a new impulse for his work. The person chose not to participate, but to appeal the tender," said S. Kairys.
The competition for the position of the director of the Trakai Historical National Park Directorate was announced at the end of September, that is, after the six-month deadline stipulated by the law was missed.
According to the minister, the Public Management Agency should have a say on this, as it is responsible for announcing tenders.
G. Abaravičius, for his part, told BNS that he understood that the minister is not obliged to appoint him for a second term without a competition, but, according to him, the deadlines stipulated in the law must be respected.
"Appointing a good or very good person after the first term for a second term is a possibility, but it is not mandatory. However, deadlines must be met. You can't pick and choose the parts of the law you like and ignore the parts you don't like or don't like," he said.
According to the director, the missed deadline for announcing the tender shows that the ministry's position towards it has changed.
"That failure to announce it in time shows that initially, apparently, one decision was made in the ministry, which somehow changed three months before the end of my first term," G. Abaravičius thought.
He said he could not participate in the illegally announced tender.
Director VAAT requested the application of a security measure for his claim, that is, a temporary suspension of the announced tender or its execution until a final court procedural decision takes effect.
As the representative of the court Sigita Gamulėnienė informed BNS, the court rejected the latter request.
"It's the same here, if I asked for temporary protection measures to be applied for the upcoming elections, because I worked well, everything was in order, so why should elections be held here now?" You can evaluate it to the point of absurdity," commented the Minister of Culture on the situation.
The Trakai Historical National Park was established in 1991 to preserve, manage and use the culturally and naturally valuable landscape complex of the Trakai lake with Trakai Castle, ethno-cultural heritage. The park occupies 8,2 thousand ha area, it owns more than 30 lakes.
It is the only national park in the country not under the Ministry of Environment.
In July this year Seimas started considering the draft Law on Protected Areas of the new version, which, among other things, stipulates that the protection and management of protected areas established by the state, with the exception of cultural reserves, sanctuaries and cultural heritage objects, is organized by the State Office of Protected Areas under the Ministry of the Environment. The Trakai Historical National Park would be among such protected areas.
