Skvernel: We are offered to do the Swedish version, but let’s calculate what the mortality would be.

Doubts about the position of prime minister

Ramūnas Karbauskis, leader of the ruling Lithuanian Union of Greens and Peasants (LVŽS), assured Seimas on Thursday that the prime minister is his candidate to continue as head of government. S. Skvernel expressed the position that it is not possible to choose a single candidate.

“The party nominates me as the main candidate, but I should not be the only one. It all depends on the circumstances. If it is possible to implement the Government’s program, a normal coalition, a normal majority, when it is not necessary to behave as necessary for four years, to run after Seimas in search of votes, it is possible to work. But the people will decide for themselves, “said S. Skvernelis.

The Prime Minister assured that there was no doubt about it.

“It just came to our attention then. R. Karbauskis said very clearly: he is the main one, but he really cannot be the only candidate. I also have to ask my opinion first,” said the politician.

He reiterated that everything depends on the determination of the people, if they believe that the work of this Government must continue, they will do so.

The prime minister also named what he thought was a “normal coalition.”

“We have to agree on the main works, the necessary reforms. As an example, the education and health reforms that were not implemented, there were hesitations, doubts, and in the end we were already left as a minority government, we did not have 71 votes. But we do have a great majority, we agreed to make the necessary advances in the first year, it can work. Being in power by power definitely is not, I refuse “, S. Skvernelis made the arguments clear.

In the prime minister’s view, Lithuania’s Polish electoral campaign, the Union of Christian Families (LLRA-KŠS), which has been embroiled in scandals, could remain part of the ruling coalition.

“It could be, but you have to sit down and organize the program very clearly. (…) Clearly, they have people who don’t say what they like. They always say their opinion, they have arguments, but that is not the position of a political party” said the Prime Minister about the deputy of the Seimas Zbignev Jedinskis.

He said he has no reason to blame the party today for inadequate foreign policy guidelines.

Coalition puzzles

A month before the Seimas elections, possible coalition lines were drawn. In the opinion of the Prime Minister, LVŽS could also work in a joint coalition with the Labor Party.

“I believe that everyone is a possible candidate in the coalition, depending on who will be the axial party that wins the most, which the president will entrust to form the government and the coalition. Of course, it can happen that way, and it will be the first time in Lithuania that there will be one or another small party whose decision can be decisive, be it from the left or the right. So all coalitions are possible. It is only hard for me to imagine, at least in theory, the LVŽS and the conservatives, ”explained the Head of Government on the Delfi issue.

The head of the homeland union, Gabrielius Landsbergis, alluded this year to the possibility of forming a nucleus of leaders in the coalition. However, according to S. Skvernelis, they are not on the road with the conservatives.

“We see a nucleus of leaders, but we do not see the conservatives here. (…) Today I cannot say what will happen after the elections, I am not the only one who decides. But I think it would be completely abnormal if we tried to build rainbow coalitions,” he said .

Other measures will be needed

Lithuania currently has a record number of coronavirus patients. The prime minister hinted on the show about possible additional trends in the virus. He said he hoped the austerity measures that were implemented in the spring would not be necessary.

“We took those steps because when we had exponential growth, we had to make decisions. Of course, maybe someone liked it, didn’t like it, some restrictions on masks, events, distances have returned. I think if we keep it (social distance and security measures), we should have that ‘flattening curve’. But if the situation worsens, other measures will be necessary. We would not want what we had in March, “said the Prime Minister.

“I think we can do without those massive events,” Skvernelis said.

The prime minister said on the show that the situation in the spring was quite different, although the number of cases is quite similar at the moment.

“Even in the treatment facilities, it was not clear what, how, how to treat. Now, if you notice, despite the increase in numbers, there are no more serious patients, the hospitals are not overcrowded. So the most important thing for us was to avoid what we saw in Italy, in Spain, where the health system exploded ”, the politicians called the differences.

S. Skvernelis admitted on the show that he sees that society is tired. He also mentioned the consequences of managing the Swedish situation.

“Now there are also sofa politicians who then went to bed, now awake they came and said what else should have been done. This is easy to say when it comes to 5-6 months. (…) That is, if we were to focus on a single objective: our ratings and the sentiment of the voters, we would relax everything. “Now they offer us: let’s do the Swedish version, but then let’s calculate what the mortality is there and what is in Lithuania now,” he said.

Without a doubt, the Prime Minister has assured that if he reforms the Government, he will reappoint Aurelius Veryga as Minister of Health.

Methods applied not tested

The Prime Minister declared that Lithuania, like all other countries affected by the coronavirus pandemic, could not even have any plans.

“We don’t have to talk about a good plan, because no state had it. All in all, it was a pandemic of unexpected, global scale. If someone had said it beforehand, have a plan, it just couldn’t be and it wasn’t. What’s more, no one knew what it was, “said the prime minister about the coronavirus.

The politician asked not to evaluate the spring decisions in the current context.

“It just came to our knowledge then. (…) Now from today’s positions to evaluate the decisions of February or March they are small, the least strange thing is. We have to go back to that situation and see what happened then,” urged the interlocutor.

Anger, according to the prime minister, is normal: people are tired.

“But we are tired of how long it will last. “Until we have the answer that we have a vaccine to protect ourselves in this way, only then will peace come to the whole world,” he said.

The prime minister also praised the program’s doctors, who applied measures not yet taken.

“Even the most serious patients do not fear the doctors of our country. They used methods that they had never used in their lives. “They were not afraid, they had the courage and they took people out of that world,” the prime minister said on Delphi day.

Skvernel emphasized that the government was neither distracted nor distracted, but agreed that some of the proposals had been announced too early.

All decisions were made by the Government

Skvernel said Wednesday that it saw no reason to resign as a special witness in the Financial Crimes Investigation Service (FNTT) investigation into rapid coronavirus tests conducted by Deputy Prime Minister Lukas Savickas and his health adviser Jonas Kairis. On the Delphi issue, he said, all decisions were made by the government.

Once again, all political decisions have been made by the Government, in any case. Like every day, like in unusual situations. But all political decisions must then be formulated and executed in accordance with our laws. All decisions are made in strict compliance with all laws, ”said the Prime Minister, urging to wait for the end of the investigation and conclusions.

“Let the institution carry out the investigation, calmly, and answer all the questions. And to make it a policy now, that service is putting himself where he doesn’t want to go, ”he said.

The Prime Minister said that if the FNTT invited him to the vote, he would go and cooperate.

“But I don’t see any reason for that,” the prime minister said.