The Baltic States From Soviet Union to the European Union by Richard Mole & Mole Richard

Author:Richard Mole & Mole Richard [Mole, Richard & Richard, Mole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, History & Theory
ISBN: 9780415394970
Google: yviGXuJ8hYUC
Goodreads: 7177974
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2012-01-15T06:33:20+00:00

The constitutional framework

During the communist era constitutionalism de facto did not exist, as the structures of the CPSU and of the state were so intertwined that limiting the power of, or effecting a balance of power among, the branches of government was impossible. In this context, the Soviet Constitution was simply a political document used to set out the goals of the regime and legitimize its rule. Reinstituting constitutionalism de jure and de facto was thus an important step in re-establishing democratic governance after 1991.

Indeed, in Lithuania, work on a new constitution began well before the resumption of state sovereignty had been internationally recognized. The validity of the constitutions of the Soviet Union and of the Lithuanian SSR on the territory of Lithuania had been declared null and void on 11 March 1990 as part of the declaration of independence.40 Conditioned by the historical continuity discourse, the declaration made clear that Lithuanian sovereignty had continued to exist de jure despite the Soviet occupation and that the various acts of state had not lost their legal status. Accordingly, the 1938 constitution in force when Lithuania was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940 was immediately restored. As the constitution was associated with the authoritarian regime of the first republic and not considered suitable for the new political situation, however, it was quickly suspended in favour of a ‘Provisional Basic Law’, which would regulate the powers of the government until such time as a new constitution had been written and approved by referendum. While the two key political forces – Sąjüdis and the post-communist Lithuanian Democratic Labour Party (LDDP) – agreed on the need for a new constitution, they disagreed sharply about the form the new constitutional structure should take.

The Provisional Basic Law introduced guarantees of democratic rights and procedures but otherwise maintained the Soviet institutional structure, in that the executive and legislative branches were merged under the aegis of the parliament (Supreme Council). The Chairman of the Supreme Council, a position held by Vytautas Landsbergis, was de jure Speaker of the Parliament and de facto head of state. In the lengthy and heated debates between Sąjüdis and the LDDP over the new constitutional structure, the main area of disagreement was the respective power of the president and parliament. Having brought about independence as head of Sąjüdis, Landsbergis remained a popular figure in 1990–1 and expected to win the first post-Soviet presidential elections. Nevertheless, he was worried that the cohesive and well-organized LDDP could win a majority in the next parliamentary elections and could use its position of strength and its close ties with the nomenklatura to block reforms. Sąjüdis thus supported a strong presidency with ‘authority above that of the prime minister’ and the power ‘to preside over the appointment of the government, and the allocation of ministries to their departments’ (Landsbergis, 2000, p. 317). For its part, the LDDP was worried that Landsbergis was becoming increasingly nationalistic and authoritarian and sought to restrict the role of the president to foreign

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