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“As for the opening of other activities, as you see, we thought that we could make these decisions today, because last week the trends seemed optimistic,” said the prime minister.
He explained whether the number of new COVID-19 cases had fallen below 200 in 14 days per 100,000. population, “A government resolution would have been made differently, but it didn’t happen.”
“I am not going to speculate whether this will happen in the first week of March, I would very much like it to happen, but it will also depend on what we see, if it is the start of a negative trend or a temporary halt,” the prime minister explained.
“We could not discuss today, our own approved quarantine mitigation plan does not allow to discuss it, because the circumstances are not such as to allow discussion,” explained I. Šimonytė.
Ingrida Šimonytė
The government also did not consider the liberation of cultural institutions in March at its meeting on Wednesday.
“Today we have more than 240 new cases and this has been the case for a few days, the situation has not improved. Today, we cannot say that this is the next issue of the day and the institutions can start operating or we can make that decision today, ”says the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister assures that there was no promise to make decisions to open institutions or expand commercial areas; decisions will be possible when the situation improves.
“There is no great interest on the part of the government in keeping as many activities closed as possible. The government only wants to protect the most vulnerable people as much as possible from the possibility of serious infections and diseases, and possibly even death, ”says I. Šimonytė.
Wait until more seniors get vaccinated
“I was hopeful and we all hoped that we could make more liberating decisions, but sadly so far we have a situation that some have described as deteriorating or third wave. I would assess the situation as a kind of traffic jam, “said I. Šimonytė.
He assured that it is difficult to talk about strategy in decision-making for a month.
“It just came to our notice then. Hopefully during March. At least the first vaccine will be given to most people over 70 years old. We know from sad experience that this is the age group that has a very high risk of dying. by COVID-19 or becoming seriously ill, “explained the Prime Minister.
Tax reform will not take place in spring
Speaking about tax reform and abolition of benefits, I. Šimonytė assured that the government will not propose any tax changes during the spring session. He stressed that a debate was taking place, which is “excellent, very Lithuanian”: how many benefits he intends to reduce, as well as new ones.
“I believe that the Ministry of Finance, having mobilized all its wisdom and ability to find logical solutions, will present those decisions to the Government. The government does not have a numerical estimate of how much revenue should increase after the abolition of income incentives.” said the Prime Minister.
He cautioned that the removal of part of the benefits would not necessarily have a linear budget impact, as more budget payments might be necessary.
“What I would like to see is if the benefits that they propose to leave will be logically justified, if the fiscal costs will not allow us to achieve a worse result than what we would obtain by applying direct subsidies from the budget”, I. Šimonytė explained.
Speakers on Carriers: Balance Needed
According to I. Šimonytė, the question about carrier companies leaving Lithuania is “as old as the mobility package”.
“Naturally, due to the adoption of the mobility package, some companies are considering different ways of organizing their activities. The mobility package itself is being debated in the EU Court of Justice. What I would like to emphasize is that, in my opinion, Lithuania is not interested in creating such special conditions that allow us to constantly search for cheaper labor costs and offer our people to go to work in the West. European countries. There must be a reasonable balance between the regulation of activities and the social package offered to employees, ”said I. Šimonytė.
Speaking about the greater possibility of indebtedness for municipalities, I. Šimonytė pointed out that borrowing does not mean greater financial independence.
He said that he would agree that the municipalities would have more of their own financial resources through a higher proportion of the taxes they receive, but then we have to talk about a greater division of functions between the central and local government.
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