Lithuania's Social Democrats are failing to become a dominant force in politics despite being part of the largest political group in the parliament, party leader Mindaugas Sinevičius said on Wednesday.
"We have somehow failed to break through and establish ourselves as the dominant force in Lithuania's political life," the chairman of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) said in an interview with BNS.
The Social Democrats have 50 seats in the 141-member parliament and govern in coalition with Nemunas Dawn and the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union.
Sinevičius said he could not pinpoint the reasons why the party has struggled to push through its agenda.
"We have the largest numbers, and the trust expressed by voters gives us the biggest mandate and the greatest responsibility. That means we should be the ones setting the agenda, rather than becoming hostages to it or to certain political leaders," he said.
The LSDP chairman added that he was dissatisfied with the current ratings of the party and its leaders and with its current communication.
Another coalition reshuffle?
LSDP has come under criticism for its coalition with the populist Nemunas Dawn party and its controversial leader, Remigijus Žemaitaitis.
The party and its leader has previously come under criticism for controversial statements. Žemaitaitis was also convicted last year for anti-semitism.
He was also accused of pursuing an alternative foreign policy, including after his trip earlier this week to Hungary, where he met the country’s foreign minister, with Lithuanian officials criticising the “alternative foreign policy” led by the populists.
Remigijus Motuzas, the social democrat chair of Lithuania’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee, criticised the visit to Hungary.
“This is not good; we have already expressed our position. Žemaitaitis himself knows that it was a private trip, a personal visit. On the other hand, we see that he himself says he went at the invitation of the Hungarian foreign minister. We see Lithuanian state flags. That means that, both in protocol and in other senses, it is no longer a private visit – it is an official visit,” Motuzas told reporters at the Seimas on Wednesday.
This was “not acceptable”, he said, adding that “we are talking about this and have publicly stated our position”.
On Wednesday, a prominent LSDP member and Seimas Speaker Juozas Olekas said the party should reconsider the coalition, saying Žemaitaitis made “inaccurate and inappropriate” comments over the military’s push to establish a new training area, which has been criticised by the local community that would be affected by the plans.
"Some sharp differences of opinion are now emerging, for example, regarding the new military training area in Kapčiamiestis. We have heard a statement from one of our coalition partners that I believe to be inaccurate and inappropriate," Olekas told the Žinių Radijas radio on Wednesday.
If LSDP decided to break the coalition with Nemunas Dawn, it had few other options to form a majority government.
"We have probably gone through all the groups with which we could form a coalition. There are not many choices, but we have to work; we have worked in minority circumstances before," Olekas said.
According to him, the ruling coalition is not collapsing: "We have a programme, and if the programme is implemented and supported, then the coalition will be able to work. If there are any conflicts, then we will have to look at other options."
On Tuesday, Sinkevičius mentioned a possible alternative coalition with the Democrats "For Lithuania" and the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union.
After the 2024 Seimas election, the Social Democrats formed a ruling majority with the Democrats and the Nemunas Dawn party, even though the LSDP vowed before the election not to work with the populists.
Last summer, after Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas resigned, the Democrats left the coalition, with the LSDP forming the new government with Nemunas Dawn and the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union.
PM: 'It looks very strange'
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė said the government might need to review the coalition agrement.
“I am not comfortable with one person moving in a different direction when, in government, together with the entire cabinet, we have agreed that security is one of the priority areas, that all coalition partners support the government programme and certain shared tasks. It looks very strange when one person suddenly decides that the direction has changed,” the prime minister said.
“Either we work as a team in line with the agreed coalition agreement and the government programme, or we go our separate ways. [...] If someone feels they are no longer aligned with this agenda, I have been saying for several months that, in that case, we are simply not on the same path,” she said.
However, Ruginienė insisted that Žemaitaitis’ actions were “having absolutely no impact on the work of the government”.
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