Do we like them?

Do we like Inga Ruginienė?

Our score: 6 out of 10. Decent union-leader record and a firm line on defence, but a contested ethics ruling and thin evidence on LGBTQ+ and climate keep her mid-table.

Inga Ruginienė came to politics the long way round. She spent years running Lithuania's biggest trade union confederation before joining the Social Democrats in 2024, winning a seat and then a ministry. When her party's previous prime minister quit in 2025, she was the surprise pick to replace him.

Her confirmation was not smooth. During the nomination she had to explain trips she made to Russia after the annexation of Crimea, and she spoke about her family ties to both Ukraine and Russia. In office, she has been firmly pro-Ukraine in her public line, including lifting Lithuania's 2026 defence budget to a record 5.38 per cent of GDP, as AFP reported.

The big stain is the ethics saga. Lithuania's chief ethics commission opened a probe in March 2026 into her trips to Italy and the Vatican, and in June it ruled against her over relatives who travelled on the official delegations at state expense, ordering the costs repaid. She and her office say they followed long-standing practice for forming delegations, and she is challenging the decision, so it is a contested ruling, not a closed book.

On the harm test, there is nothing in what I found of her own words or acts targeting LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants or the climate. On same-sex partnerships, the picture is mostly about others: in late 2025 her justice minister declined to draft a bill while MPs from several parties proposed one. I couldn't find a firm quote from her on that bill, so her record there is thin rather than clean.

The good stuff is her union years, when she represented workers in national wage talks and is credited by European union bodies with pushing for higher minimum wages. That is the kind of work done for other people, not for a trophy cabinet. It is also mostly described by union-friendly sources, so take the credit with a grain of salt.

Her time as prime minister ended after less than a year, not over a personal crisis but a coalition reshuffle. The Social Democrats swapped Nemunas Dawn for another partner, and party leader Mindaugas Sinkevičius took the top job. She called it a normal political process and was expected back at her old ministry.