“The education system has been reformed so much that the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports itself needs social assistance. (…) No one is in a hurry, everyone is fine. The helm of the ministry was taken over by the Minister of Social Security and Labor, probably until the end of the term,” said V. Blinkevičiūtė at the LSDP council held on Saturday.
“In a democratic world, experiments on humans are prohibited. This, unfortunately, does not apply to the Ministry of Education, which constantly conducts experiments on young people. Students. With ever new ideas, ever new and untested ways. This is the chaos that comes from incompetence,” she emphasized.
Conservatives no longer understand the reality of life or priorities
V. Blinkevičiūtė asserted that conservatives, when proposing various proposals, such as changing Soviet-designed road signs, “no longer understand the reality of life or priorities”.
“We will try to visit as many people as possible, wherever they live. Prime Minister Šimonytė equated meetings with residents to “Christmas”? Listen, everyone knows about her. And we communicate and will communicate with the residents. We will not run or hide from them, as some conservatives do,” said the head of the LSDP.
“Conservatives are wrong in thinking that all the people of Lithuania do not understand what is happening. And strange things are happening in Lithuania. It turned out that road signs of Soviet design are the most harmful to traffic and Lithuania. We will build new ones, spend tens of millions and accidents will decrease, everyone will see that this is the crossing and everything will change? It seems to me that conservatives no longer understand the reality of life or their priorities,” she emphasized.
Criticism of the Speaker’s Commission of the Seimas VSD: narrow political calculations
The MEP also criticized the work of the parliamentary commission of the Seimas that investigated the history of the whistleblower of the Department of State Security (VSD), as well as the Minister of Internal Affairs, Agnė Bilotaitė, who appealed to the General Prosecutor’s Office due to the information disclosed by the head of the country, Gitan Nausėda, about the arrest of the attackers of the Russian opposition member Leonidas Volkov. According to her, this is done due to “narrow political calculations”.
“Five members of the Seimas sign the conclusions of the temporary commission – I’m talking about the rapporteur’s commission – and smear everyone with dirt. Our institutions – the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Special Investigation Service, the Department of State Security. “An investigation has already been started for the conservative rapporteur’s commission in the Seimas regarding bias, excess of authority and violations of laws in the Ethics and Procedures Commission of the Seimas,” said V. Blinkevičiūtė.
“Here I hear indignation against Minister Bilotaitė, that she turned to the General Prosecutor’s Office about the president, allegedly that he prevented her from investigating a crime, etc. I myself served as a minister for 8 years and I can’t imagine that this could happen. Presidential elections, that’s what,” she emphasized.
He thinks that G. Nausėda can be re-elected in the first round
V. Blinkevičiūtė assured that the more the conservatives “attack the president”, the more likely it is that Gitanas Nausėda will be re-elected in the first round of the presidential election.
“With this in mind, I suggest that the conservatives do not stop. Although the fantasy is poor, there is still time. Voters will not have to travel to the second round, and the state will save millions of euros, which could be spent, for example, on the maintenance of rolling roads,” said the chairperson of the LSDP.
“So let’s call on you in cities, towns, and villages: be sure to come on May 12 and vote. We can elect the president from the first round. If the conservatives of the Seimas and the Government make an effort before the elections, it will definitely happen,” she noted.
The consequences of the price jump are the most difficult for the people of Lithuania
“Although the price jump affected all Europeans, the consequences of this crisis were the most difficult for the people of Lithuania. Our Lithuanian people paid the highest price. In 2022, Lithuania recorded a record, the highest annual price growth rate in the European Union of 23 percent. During the year, the prices of goods and services grew by a quarter on average”, stressed V. Blinkevičiūtė.
“And let’s add the creeping privatization of the public sector, when everything has to be paid for.” If you have money, if a person’s pocket is deep, you can jump the queues at the hospital, and go to a good kindergarten or school, and get excellent social services,” she said.
According to the MEP, Lithuania still has a lot to do in the field of social justice, because the country’s economic success is distributed “very unfairly”.
“Statistics show that forty percent of the population of Lithuania has two thirds of the total income of the population. Meanwhile, only 18 percent of the 40 percent of the population have lower incomes. of the income of the entire population”, said the politician.
“In addition, Lithuanian people with the highest incomes pay extremely low taxes. One-third of the population is prosperous, while two-thirds of the people are in dire straits. After all, a fifth of Lithuanian people live below the poverty risk level”, she assured.
Due to the additional funding, the defense does not support the withdrawal of funds from the municipalities
V. Blinkevičiūtė explained that in order to allocate more funds to defense, it is necessary to get rid of socially unjust taxation and tax privileges enjoyed by people and businesses with the highest incomes.
“This is primarily the state’s responsibility. Then there will be enough money for defense and other areas. We, the social democrats, proposed to increase the profit tax by 5 percent more than half a year ago. No, they say, it will be very, very bad, Lithuania will collapse,” said the head of the LSDP.
According to her, the social democrats propose increasing the profit tax for legal entities by more than 1 percent, issuing defense bonds, borrowing within the state, negotiating with the European Commission on increasing defense spending and borrowing limits, and extending the bank solidarity tax.
However, according to the politician, the opposition party opposes the withdrawal of funds from municipalities, the increase of excise and value added tax.
Tags: conservatives reformed education system needed social assistance
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