S. Skvernelis and R. Karbauskis evaluated the program of the Government of I. Šimonytė: lack of ambition, but also see the desire to continue the work of “peasants”

The comments of the politicians before the plenary session of the Seimas can be seen here:

“There are many slogans. The feeling of reading is that you see somewhere. And seen in a very simple way, because there are many provisions in the current provisional program of the current Government. In addition, the bills have been supported by foundations that have already been implemented or presented to the Seimas ”, commented S. Skvernelis.

According to the interim prime minister, there has been a shift from strategic policies to highly technical and unambitious policies. For example, in the field of energy.

“I missed something significant in general, in terms of internal security, justice, national security, national defense. There is no new idea in foreign policy. It seems that a program of this type has been made, which would be easy to implement, “thinks S. Skvernelis.

He emphasized that in the government’s program we will “continue”, “implement” and “finish” many of the declarations that we have begun.

“I am satisfied with the continuity of work,” said the acting prime minister.

At the same time, S. Skvernelis emphasized that the opposition “peasants” will not support this government.

“I really wanted to know what were the expectations of those people who voted to have something new, not to continue, to implement, to finish implementing. Perhaps everything has already been done in Lithuania, “said S. Skvernelis.

R. Karbauskis responded critically

Ramūnas Karbauskis, president of the Lithuanian Union of Peasants and Greens (LVŽS), who arrived at Seimas on Tuesday and resigned, reacted critically to the new government’s program, although he said he saw the intention to continue the work started by LVŽS.

“The program is dominated by the entries ‘we will continue’, ‘we will finish’. It turns out that what was said four years was not true. The truth is that we don’t work that bad. This government is preparing to continue with what we did, ”R. Karbauskis commented to the Seimas journalists.

“On the other hand, there are many things written in the program that have already been achieved. We are very surprised by this, but things have been written, especially in the field of justice. <...>. But probably out of ignorance, “he added.

Furthermore, R. Karbauskis doubted that the future government could implement the signed program.

“Weak people in the government. If we talk about the composition of the government itself, it will not be able to implement that program, in my opinion, “the politician considered.

According to him, the LVŽS will soon form a shadow government.

Next week we will announce the composition of the shadow government.

“We will announce the composition of the shadow government next week. This shadow government will be much stronger,” promised the party president.

He acknowledged that the LVŽS has not yet joined with other opposition parties and the opposition is now united.

“I think it will be a bit united, because from the bills that are now being proposed in the Seimas, because of what people are becoming ministers, it is obvious that the opposition parties simply have no choice but to unite.

In the near future, it will be necessary to start blocking certain bills that are corrupt, ”said R. Karbauskis.

Although he rejected the mandate of a member of the Seimas, the LVŽS leader promised to visit the Seimas frequently: he attended a meeting of the LVŽS faction on Tuesday and promises to visit them in the future as well.

A.Veryga: abstractions in the program

The outgoing Minister of Health, A.Veryga, also became familiar with the new government’s program. He is challenged by “strong slogans” and the new government’s goal of linking health care payments to quality.

“I’m trying to figure out how to put this into practice. The probability of dying from one disease or another can sometimes vary greatly from one region to another. What does that payment for quality mean? Does this mean that where you are worst with services, you will pay less for them? Then things will get even worse, “the acting minister told reporters at Seimas.

He was also in awe of the government’s efforts to increase medical salaries. According to him, very little is said about it.

“There was a lot of talk about doctors’ salaries, and there is only one sentence in the program: we will link it to the average salary.” Is this how we “link”? And now he was tied up. Specific figures, linked to the Vytautas Magnus University 2017, were collected from both nurses and doctors, ”said A.Veryga.

There are such abstractions in the program that it is very difficult to decide and what will actually be there.

“There are abstractions in the show that are very difficult to decide and who will actually be there,” he added.

When asked what COVID-19 related work would be handed over to future Health Minister Arūnas Dulkis, A.Veryga listed them, but noted that no one had requested it.

“I would love to transfer them, but so far no one has asked me to transfer anything. There were only two days left.

The main thing to be handed over to the Minister is to get acquainted with the functioning of the staff, how decisions are made, what institutions are involved, what they are responsible for, what to look for when the situation changes very quickly, what is the most important job. The vaccination plan is now a very important job.

But maybe the future minister has already become familiar with everything, I don’t know, “commented A. Veryga with a smile.

I.Šimonytė: It is not very important to me

Commenting on S.Svvernelis’s speech, Prime Minister-designate Ingrida Šimonytė said she wanted to say what she wanted.

“I really don’t care that the epithets may be those that aren’t very nice. Certainly no one copied this government program. I believe that the government’s program is based on those political programs with which the coalition parties went to the polls. It would have been very difficult for us to copy LVS’s election program, because it just wasn’t there, as far as I remember, “he told reporters.

I. Šimonytė pointed out that the Government program was prepared by adding provisions that coincide between the partners of the ruling coalition.

The fact that someone sees the continuation of the work of the outgoing Cabinet does not see any problem.

“Because I said that nobody plans any revolution here. Those things that were done well but not done, despite what the government had proposed, will continue. I do not see any problem with that,” said the designated prime minister.