VILNIUS, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite on Monday urged for an increase of transparency in the country's public sector to prevent nepotism amid efforts to reform public service.
On Monday, Grybauskaite met with public policy experts and the head of Lithuania's State Labor Inspectorate to discuss issues of public sector transparency and the need to reform the public service.
"The reform of the public sector shouldn't be partial, it should ensure transparency throughout the entire sector, prevent corruption and nepotism, which increase injustice and provoke emigration," Grybauskaite said in a statement.
The head of state raised concerns of nepotism at the country's municipalities and state-controlled companies.
As many as 45 percent of public sector employees claim that they had faced nepotism as politicians protected members of the same party so they would assume certain positions, local news agency ELTA reported.
Data of the country's Special Investigation Service suggested that 17.66 percent of workers at the Lithuanian municipalities are relatives and this "leads to unjustified expansion of bureaucracy".
According to the latest survey by Spinter tyrimai (Spinter Surveys), 40 percent of the country's residents think public servants are biased.
The Lithuanian president is to propose amendments, calling for an open selection of public service staff.
But Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis expressed skepticism at the president's idea. "We have to realize that it would prolong the hiring procedures and would require additional costs," Skvernelis told local media.
