Democrat leader questions whether finance minister understands his role

Virginijus Sinkevičius, leader of the ruling Democratic Union “For Lithuania,” questioned whether Finance Minister Taurimas Valys understands his position, criticizing him for failing to answer questions about next year’s budget. LRT reported.

“The state budget is late to be registered, and the man cannot give a specific answer to a single question, but walks around the corridors of the Seimas cracking jokes,” Sinkevičius said on “Nauja diena,” a programme on Lietuvos rytas TV, on Thursday.

He was responding to Valys’s remark on Wednesday, when a journalist asked him about criticism from Democrat Algirdas Butkevičius over the minister’s competence. Valys replied, “You shot, you shot,” referring to Butkevičius’s 2014 use of the English phrase “Shoulder to shoulder” while he was prime minister. The phrase was heard as sounding like the Lithuanian words Valys quoted.

“To make it clearer for the finance minister, I would finish that phrase by saying he shot himself in the foot. He could show that kind of wit and humour if the state budget had been submitted,” Sinkevičius said.

Sinkevičius said he did not know whether the budget draft would be registered on Thursday or Friday. The government plans to consider the 2027 state and Sodra budgets on Friday, along with measures in the so-called family package and next year’s pay levels for civil servants and teachers.

“I hear that next week, when the budget has to be presented and defended, it will breach the fiscal discipline rule. That means there will need to be very strong arguments, and the finance minister will be travelling,” Sinkevičius said.

According to BNS, Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius has said the general government deficit will reach about 3.8% of GDP next year. Valys has also faced public criticism from opposition parties for not attending their parliamentary group meetings.