[ad_1]
Prime Minister I. Šimonytė, who took the stage of the Liberal Party Congress, joked that based on the weather conditions, it looked like she had convened for the Conservative Congress.
On Saturday in Trakai it rains and a gusty wind blows.
“According to the best rule of Andrius Kubilius, the easy ways are not ours,” laughed I. Šimonytė.
Šimonytė: If we took care of the chops or the knees, maybe we would have less criticism
The prime minister said that it was a great honor for her to be in the Congress of the Liberal Movement, thanked the coalition partners.
“It is said that no one controls both a relationship and joint activities, and especially the challenges and difficulties that we are not lacking: pandemics, hybrid attacks. All of this inevitably adjusted the plans of the current ruling majority coalition.
And although we have to dedicate a lot of our time and a lot of attention to it, I am still absolutely sure that we are in the coalition in the first place to carry out those tasks that are important for the long-term future of Lithuania, ”said I. Šimonytė at the congress.
The Prime Minister noted that the ruling coalition is constantly trying to blame resentment, to sow resistance.
“I want to thank everyone so much for staying focused and I want to believe that we only understand each other better. Sometimes the criticism we receive is already difficult to name. Sometimes it’s more like an ultimatum, the last one we received yesterday. But sometimes I am ironic, because I do not renounce irony, I think: if we had to deal with chops or knees, maybe we would have less criticism.
Thank you very much for not dealing with chops and knees, thank you for not being able to say that we had to question ourselves as decent politicians once in all this time, that we work together, ”said I. Šimonytė.
Aušrinė Armonaitė, leader of the Freedom Party and Minister of Economy and Innovation, who attended the congress, said that the criticism received by the rulers was not “the voice of a political nation.”
“It just came to our attention then. But some angry people cannot dictate decisions in a state when there are such difficult circumstances. Lithuania is not angry, Lithuania is diverse,” he explained.
However, according to A. Armonaitė, the crisis should not be a reason for not implementing major changes in the state.
“Whether we are talking about reforms that improve growth … or those that are important in the field of human rights,” the minister said.
On Friday, the Lithuanian Union of Greens and Peasants announced the ultimatum to I. Šimonyte.
The statesmen demanded that I. Šimonytė distance himself from the “tax reform that increases the tax burden on the population” in three weeks, substantially change the vaccination strategy and management of the COVID-19 pandemic, hold public accounts of the costs of management the migration crisis and provide clear deadlines for illegal immigrants to be returned to their countries of origin.
Choose a new party leader
A congress of the ruling Liberal Movement will be held in Trakai on Saturday, during which the new party chairman will be announced.
The current leader of this political force, the president of the Seimas Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen and the vice president, the parliamentarian Andrius Bagdonas, are running for the position of president of the party.
According to the approved procedure, the president of the Liberal Movement can only be elected by party members who have paid the membership fee. As the Liberal Movement reported to BNS, there are currently 1953.
Electronic voting for the presidency will take place from Thursday. It will be completed on Saturday, during the convention.
Following the announcement of the election results, the Liberals will also elect a party board, an ethics and transparency commission and a control commission, and vice-presidents.
It is planned to hear the report of the current party president, V. Čmilytė-Nielsen.
The term of the president of the Liberal Movement is two years. V. Čmilytė-Nielsen has been at the helm of the Liberals since 2019, when he replaced Eugenijus Gentvilas in this post.
The Liberal Movement belongs to the ruling majority: it has 13 representatives in the Seimas, the position of Spokesperson of the Seimas and the Ministries of Environment and Culture, headed by Simonas Gentvilas and Simonas Kairys.
The party unites a total of more than 7 thousand. members. According to various polls, 5.5 to 7 percent support the Liberal Movement. population, and V. Čmilytė-Nielsen is one of the most popular politicians in the country.
[ad_2]
