A Fight Over the EU’s Only All-Male Cabinet Is Heating Up

(Bloomberg) -- A spat over a cabinet appointment in Lithuania is sending relations between the Baltic country’s two most-powerful politicians to a new low.

Under pressure to name a woman as environment minister and avoid becoming the only European Union state to have an all-male government, Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis is now furious that President Dalia Grybauskaite rejected his pick, Irma Gudziunaite. He said Wednesday that he doesn’t see her approving anyone he suggests and will stop trying.

The two officials don’t get on at the best of times. But with Skvernelis looking to win the presidency in May as Grybauskaite’s final term ends, tensions are reaching breaking point. It’s their second run-in in a week after the president said Skvernelis’s recent trip to Israel brought “more damage than benefit” after he opted not to also visit Palestine.

The premier says he detects a “systemic desire to destabilize the work of the government.” Tempers are likely to flare further as the election nears.

To contact the reporter on this story: Milda Seputyte in Vilnius at mseputyte@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrea Dudik at adudik@bloomberg.net, Andrew Langley, Michael Winfrey

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