She notes that by appointing MP Artūras Skardžius from the Nemunas Dawn party to chair the committee the new ruling majority has broken a parliamentary tradition, which allowed the opposition to lead the Audit Committee.
"Perhaps this is a new style, a new political culture, but I do not wish to sound alarmist. We may look at people, at politicians, who are saying this. We realise that Artūras Skardžius, as chairman of the Audit Committee, is a rather odious figure," Čmilytė-Nielsen said in an interview to the radio station Žinių radijas on Friday.
"Political traditions are essentially broken when, for instance, the opposition loses the post of the Audit Committee’s chair and then it becomes yet another tool in the hands of the Nemunas Dawn," said the MP.
Although in the past opposition representatives used to head the Audit Committee, the new ruling coalition consisting of the Social Democratic Party, the party Democrats For Lithuania and the Nemunas Dawn has abandoned this practice.
New speaker of the Seimas, Saulius Skvernelis, leader of Democrats For Lithuania, had suggested that chairs of the Audit Committee might be appointed on a rotating basis, with an opposition MP assuming its leadership in the future.
Earlier, MP Remigijus Žemaitaitis, leader of the Nemunas Dawn, announced plans to audit energy projects, defence sector procurement and public broadcaster LRT.
President’s chief adviser Frederikas Jansonas stated that any audit would have to be result-oriented to examine the use of public funding and must not be politicised. According to him, "if nothing bad was done", then audits should not cause "allergic reactions".