Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda on Tuesday officially submitted to the Seimas the nomination of Gintautas Paluckas of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) for the position of prime minister.
“Lithuania’s security depends on strong public authorities. Our country needs a strong government. Despite many challenges ahead, I believe that Gintautas Paluckas’ motivation, his experience, and the team of ministers he will form will allow us to hear all the people of Lithuania with respect, and to know and respond to their concerns,” Nausėda said at the Seimas.
According to the president, the security of Lithuania and Europe as a whole is the key issue today, which is why it is vital to continue to support Ukraine, fulfil the commitments made to allies, and ensure proper defence funding.
“Lithuania’s security is also about a strong economy and strong people, and while we expect further strong growth, this assumption may not materialise, so the next government will be tasked with the resolute implementation of a fairer tax policy and will need to ensure better access to funding for businesses, expand export markets, and promote investment,” Nausėda said.
When presenting Paluckas as the nominee for prime minister, Nausėda also stressed that the future government would also have to “get the EU investments moving as they are well behind schedule”.
He also mentioned the need to tackle education and health problems, improve the country’s infrastructure, respond to demographic changes, continue the path of energy independence, greenness, and sustainability, and strengthen regions.
“The future government will need a modern policy to strengthen families, improve the situation of seniors, ensure controlled migration, and use the full arsenal of available instruments to fight exclusion,” the president said.
Paluckas, 45, was nominated to lead Lithuania’s 19th government by the LSDP, the winner of the recent general election, after the party’s leader Vilija Blinkevičiūtė chose to keep her seat in the European Parliament and renounced her Lithuanian MP mandate, as well as the possibility to be prime minister.
The new centre-left ruling coalition, including the LSDP, the Nemunas Dawn party, and the Democratic Union “For Lithuania” has vowed to back Paluckas for prime minister. The ruling bloc has 86 votes in the 141-seat Seimas.
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