Lithuania’s president has approved the new cabinet of PM Ingrida Šimonytė, which will be put to a vote in the parliament in the coming days.
Along with the ministers, the parliament will vote on the government’s four-year programme.
LRT English presents key excerpts from the 123-page document which is available in full here (in Lithuanian).
Foreign policy
The key rule is not to “fix what isn’t broken”, the document says. The new government has outlined four key principles for its foreign policy:
– “Lithuania – a centre for the development of freedom and democracy.”
The government pledges to help those fighting for freedom all over the world, support pro-democracy protesters in Belarus and the country’s civil society.
– “To strengthen Europe – to become stronger in Europe.”
The document identifies Paris and Berlin as the key “EU centres” to build stronger relationships with, calls for a “a real strategic partnership” with the Baltic states, advocate for EU enlargement.
Read more: Lithuanian president signs off on PM Šimonytė's minister cabinet
– “Lithuania’s forward line of defence.”
The document says that the security situation is deteriorating due to Russia’s actions, therefore, Lithuania has to deepen transatlantic ties with the United States, develop “strategic partnership” with Poland, as well as closer cooperation with the United Kingdom and the Lithuianian diaspora there, achieve “strategic diversification” in resources, develop foreign policy specialisations, increase crisis management capabilities.
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– “Lithuania’s soft power – a multiplier of political power.”
The government will aim for the country to punch above its weight in international politics by spreading Lithuania’s historical narrative, spreading the idea of Lithuania as a space for freedom by admitting political asylum seekers, underlining Lithuania’s innovations in economy, transforming Lithuania into a country of green technology, establishing an agency to attract experts and investment.
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– “Make diplomatic service prestigious again”
Diplomatic service has lost its appeal due to non-competitive wages and unreasonable workload, according to the document. Therefore, the new government will aim to improve working conditions and to depoliticise the institution by taking away the minister's ability to promote appointees in diplomatic rank and delegating more functions to mobile work groups.
Transparency and reputation
The government programme pledges to make its work more transparent, saying that open data will be the cornerstone behind the government’s decisions and communication.
The government will also aim to improve the reputation of the country via education, economy, culture, and sports achievements. “We will decide together what is most important to us, how we see ourselves, [...] and how we would like to be seen in the world,” the document says.
Healthcare
Besides the obvious and pressing need to target the pandemic before the vaccination efforts reach the “recommended levels”, the government has pledged to:
– improve the efficiency and assign more financing for GPs
– review the wage system of all healthcare workers to achieve better motivation, improve emotional climate, ensure psychological support for healthcare workers
– improve the accessibility and quality of healthcare, including in the field of mental health. The document also says the government will encourage the role of the private sector in healthcare
– raise life expectancy in the country by one year to 77, tackle the high suicide rate by focusing on intermediatery mental health support, which would fill the gap between mental health hospitals and psychological healthcare centres.
Education
The government programme pledges to ensure that all children from at-risk families are enrolled in pre-school education from the age of three.
The government also aims to have at least one Lithuanian university ranked among the world’s top 300 institutions by 2030.
Šimonytė’s government will also put more focus on regions, according to the document, making sure that people can make a decent living without having to migrate to bigger cities. Delegating more powers to local governments is among the instruments for achieving it, according to the document.
The government has also pledged to gradually raise the salaries in the education sector to reach 130 percent of the national average for teachers and at least 150 percent for academic staff by the end of the government’s term in 2024. Meanwhile, salaries for cultural and artistic workers should increase to at least 90 percent of the national average.
Welfare
The government has pledged to:
– reduce the overall at-risk-of-poverty rate to 17 percent by 2024, from the current 20.6 percent.
– raise social insurance benefits
– introduce more targeted pensions, benefits, and compensations
– develop additional pension guarantees
– strengthen the profession of the social worker
– directly finance social care
– increase payouts to people with disabilities and families raising children with special needs
– make sure that people with disabilities are included into the general education system
– adapt infrastructure for people with special needs
– improve employment services for the disabled
Justice
The government will seek to:
– legalise dual citizenship via a referendum which could take place in 2024
– ensure open and transparent operation of the courts
– include non-governmental organisations into lawmaking
– secure the rule of law
– pay special attention to individual rights and freedoms established in the Constitution and international law
– decrease the minimum age for members of parliament
– analyse technical opportunities to pilot an internet voting scheme in the next local elections and/or in the expatriate constituency during the next parliamentary election
– develop a network of open or semi-open prisons, review and improve socialisation and work programmes in prisons
– consider decriminalising the possession of small amount of drugs for personal use
– digitalise the work of courts
Economy and finance
The government pogramme pledges respect for private property, freedom for initiative, and openness to innovations.
The new government has pledged to prepare the National Regional Development programme, with a key priority of establishing specialised and effective economic growth plans for each of the country’s regions.
Read more: New Lithuanian government will review all tax exemptions – finance minister-designate
Some of the targets in the programme are:
– set up a fund to mobilise public and private sector financial resources and to invest in priority areas identified by the state.
– by 2024, to make sure that high-tech production makes up at least 7 percent of Lithuania's industry (in 2017, the figure was 3.6 percent)
– by 2030, to ensure that public and private investment into research and development (R&D) is at least 2 percent of GDP
– by 2030, to make sure that Lithuania has the first climate-neutral city
– by 2050, to achieve climate neutrality and completely circular economy
– by 2030, to make sure that GDP per capita in the country’s regions (excluding Vilnius region) is 75 percent of the EU average (the current level is 48.5 percent)
– abolish all existing tax incentives for fossil fuels and phase out the use of coal and oil products in the heat sector within four years
– renovate 1,000 apartment buildings annually
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