Lithuanian Social Democrats (LSDP) signed an agreement on Monday to form a new coalition government with two partners – the Nemunas Dawn political party and the Lithuanian Farmers, Green and Christian Families Union parliamentary group.
The Farmers and Greens group replaced the former coalition partners, Democrats "For Lithuania", which called for the populist Nemunas Dawn to be excluded from the new government.
"We commit to swiftly and effectively implementing the necessary measures to ensure Lithuania's security needs and provide strong support for Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression and on its path toward integration into the European Union and NATO," the agreement reads.
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The new ruling majority will have 82 out of 141 seats in the parliament.
As in the previous coalition, the Social Democrats will hold the largest share with 52 members, Nemunas Dawn will have 19 MPs, and the Farmers, Greens and the Christian Families Union will have 11 MPs.
The latter group is not uniform in terms of party affiliation and includes six Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union (LVŽS), three members of the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania–Christian Families Alliance (LLRA–KŠS), and two non-party MPs.
Five annexes were signed along with the agreement.
One commits the coalition to backing Social Democrat Inga Ruginienė for prime minister and Social Democrat Juozas Olekas for parliamentary speaker. Nemunas Dawn will nominate the first deputy speaker.
Another annex lists four issues on which members of the Farmers, Greens and the Christian Families Alliance will not be expected to back the coalition. These include legal recognition of civil partnerships and same-sex marriage, and amendments to the Law on Reproductive Health.
The coalition's stated priorities include protecting the population from external threats, ensuring adequate defence funding, promoting domestic business, improving conditions for families, increasing funding for informal education and child benefits, free meals for primary school students, equal access to quality education, and investment in roads and sustainable energy.
The coalition pledges to raise incomes, temporarily suspend fuel excise increases, and raise excise duties on tobacco, alcohol and electronic cigarettes and related products.
It also commits to adopting an action plan against xenophobia, antisemitism and all forms of discrimination.
The coalition reshuffle takes place after the former social democrat prime minister, Gintautas Paluckas, resigned amid an ongoing corruption investigation into companies linked to him.
The parliament will vote on the candidate for prime minister, Ruginienė, on Tuesday. She will then have 15 days to put her government programme to the vote at the Seimas.
The government will formally begin work when the parliament approves the new programme.
Ministries divided up
According to the signed coalition agreement, the LSDP will head nine ministries, Nemunas Dawn will get three, and the newly joined coalition members, the Farmers and Greens group, will receive two ministries.
The LSDP will continue to head the ministries of finance, defence, culture, social security, transport, health, education, science and sports, foreign affairs, and internal affairs.
Nemunas Dawn will be responsible for the ministries of environment and agriculture, as well as the energy ministry that was previously headed by the Democrats “For Lithuania”.
The Farmers and Greens group will head the ministries of economy and justice.
Social Democrat Juozas Olekas is also set to become speaker of the Lithuanian parliament. The post is currently held by Saulius Skvernelis, leader of the Democrats "For Lithuania".
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