Since Friday, when the parties of the Lithuanian Social Democrats, „Vardan Lietuvos“ and „Nemunas aušros“ announced an agreement on the formation of a governing coalition, and on Monday, when the agreement was confirmed with signatures, all we have heard from the conservative camp is whining, hand-wringing, and appeals to conscience and decency.

„Why, well, why did you agree? For four years we were the elites who protected Lithuania from the hell and the Kremlin. This is the only kind of moaning you hear, spiced up by the former head of state Dalia Grybauskaitė's appeal to the Social Democrats to change their minds. "This coalition is already causing irreparable reputational damage in the eyes of our partners in the EU and NATO (...) Don't turn your impressive electoral victory into ashes," warns Grybauskaitė. If I remember correctly, it was the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) that backed her candidacy in both 2009 and 2014.

I would see this call by Grybauskaitė to change her mind as a cry in the silence, hoping and holding out hope that the Social Democrats will eventually "come to their senses" and invite her into the ruling coalition... conservatives.

Why such a zealous desire to condemn, to belittle the new majority? Is there a general fear that the skeletons in the closets of those who were in power will start to turn into skeletons when the new government starts work? Investigations, commissions, in my opinion, will be inevitable here...

But let's get down to earth. It is already clear that both the Ministries of Agriculture and Environment will go to the party founded by Remigijus Žemaitis, „Nemunas aušra“, in the new government. This is, in principle, a very good thing, because both the land and the environment are closely linked. How much firewood has been thrown over the last 4 years, when the Ministry of Agriculture has been "demilitarising" the functions of the Ministry of the Environment, and today we are already seeing the consequences of this. But so be it...

Even if Žemaitaitis himself is unlikely to be able to serve as Minister of Agriculture, given the doubts expressed by the President of the Republic of Lithuania, Gitanas Nausėda, last Friday, no one will take the portfolio of Minister of Agriculture away from the Ministry of Agriculture.

„I have expressed my views on Mr Žemaitis, they remain unchanged, and I do not see any possibility for Mr Žemaitis to work in the Government“, – we would like to remind you of the statement made by G. Nausėda on Friday while he was in Budapest.

This lightning-fast reaction to the new coalition agreement only demonstrates the Head of State's unwavering attitude towards Mr Žemaitis. However, he must also be understood. Mr Nausėda is directly responsible for foreign policy and it would not be easy for him, let us face it, to justify to other heads of state his "anti-Semitism" and other matters, whether they are justified or not. For that reason alone I would doubt very much whether Žemaitaitis will be able to continue as a minister.

So let's see who the possible candidates are. And, first of all, who would be suitable to be Minister of Agriculture from among the party members who made it into the Seimas. At first glance, it's hard to see. The MPs range from former members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to fin-tech, municipal management specialists.

The only one of them who seems to be a contender for Minister of Agriculture is Vytautas Jucius, a farmer from Šilalė. It is true that his biography shows six years of membership of the Communist Party of the USSR, which, let us admit, in the context of current affairs, when all that is visible around us is the Kremlin's hand and the "anti-Semitism" with which Žemaitaitis is being attacked from all sides, would put a certain stain on his early years. Still others would say: "See, we said that Žemaitaitis is a Kremlin project". Even the fact that he served as Žemakaitis' assistant secretary from 2008 to 2019 would not save Jucius.

It is quite difficult to find more people from the Seimas suitable to lead the Ministry of Agriculture. All of them are out of touch with the land, ignorant of what life is like for farmers and the harsh reality they have lived with for the last 4 years. Farmers are unlikely to tolerate another experiment of the kind that the Conservatives have presented to farmers in the person of Kęstutis Navickas.

Feeling tells us that the Minister of Agriculture will not be a parliamentarian. Just as Giedrius Surplys was not originally, or the same K. Navickas. But they were both absolute dilettantes, „people off the street“. So it is not surprising that their horses will have to be kicked and kicked and kicked again.

What I noticed before the debate and listening to the representatives of „Nemunas aušros“ themselves, when talking to them, is that they point to Gennadijus Vorobjovas, 51, who is said to have a good knowledge of, first of all, dairy farming.

 Looking at his list of jobs, it is immediately obvious that he has worked not only for UAB "DeLaval" or "Pieno tyrimai", but also for the agricultural cooperative "Pienas LT". Sources in this cooperative indicate that Mr Vorobjovas has worked with farmers not only in Lithuania, but also in Latvia and Estonia on the purchase of raw milk.

An advantage is that Vorobjovas graduated from the Lithuanian Veterinary Academy in 1997 with a degree in veterinary medicine, and in 2011 he received a PhD in biomedical sciences from the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences. And he has never been a member of any political organisation, although he stood in this year's elections under the banner of „Nemunas aušros“. It is also interesting to note that in the debate organised by the Lithuanian Council of Agriculture in October at the Academy of Agriculture at the VMU in Vilnius with potential candidates for the post of Minister of Agriculture, it was G. Vorobjovas who sat behind R. Žemaitis. It is difficult to see any other contenders at the moment, but speculation is generally a thankless business...

Why is it important to have knowledge of the matter? And why is it constantly stressed by the farmers themselves? For the public, it is important above all because food prices have already broken through the ceiling (Lithuanian cucumbers at EUR 9.99/kg for example), and the green train, even if it were stopped now, would be roaring through the market inertia for at least another two years.

The second thing is that the leadership of the Ministry of Agriculture, as well as of the Ministry of Environment, can be used for both future success and total failure. After all, in the event of success, the chances of „Nemunas aušros“ winning municipal or other parliamentary elections would only increase. But this will depend on the results that can be achieved with these ministries.