On Friday, the Lithuanian parliament is opening its regular spring session during which the government plans to present a tax reform package.
Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, speaker of the Seimas, said that at the top of the session's agenda is legislation on "national security and defence, the well-being of our citizens, human rights and reducing social exclusion".
"We have a lot of hard and responsible work to do in difficult circumstances, so I invite you to focus, put aside personal ambitions and mobilise for a united effort," she said.
Read more: Pressed by EU, Lithuanian government makes reluctant go at tax reform
President Gitanas Nausėda, who met with the Board of the Seimas on the eve of the session, identified tax reform as the top priority, noting that it should not be linked to tax hikes.
"People should not associate the planned tax reform with yet another increase in the tax burden," he told a news conference after the meeting.
The agenda of the first sitting on Friday includes a speech by Elzbieta Witek, marshal of the Polish Sejm, who is visiting Vilnius, and the swearing-in of Vilius Semeška of the conservative Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats as a new member of the Seimas.
Three candidates for Constitutional Court judges – Tomas Davulis, Aurelijus Gutauskas and Stasys Sedbaras – are to be presented to the parliament.
Danguolė Bublienė, President Gitanas Nausėda's candidate for president of the Supreme Court of Lithuania, is also planned to be nominated.
A draft resolution on extending the existing state of emergency through May 2, as well as proposals to transfer the existing restrictions on Russian and Belarusian citizens to a separate law and to formalise in law the practice of turning away irregular migrants, are expected to be introduced before the parliament on the first day of the spring session.
The spring session's programme contains over 460 draft laws, not including accompanying documents.
Nausėda will deliver his State of the Nation address and the government will present its annual report to the parliament during the spring session.
Also, candidates for intelligence ombudspersons are to be nominated.
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