Veryga urges prime minister to resolve dispute over deputy minister posts
The leader of Lithuania’s ruling Farmers and Greens Union (LVŽS), Aurelijus Veryga, has called on Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė to swiftly resolve the ongoing dispute over deputy minister positions allocated to his party, dismissing her current proposals as “unserious,” LRT reports.
Speaking on Žinių Radijas, Veryga framed the issue as a test of the prime minister’s resolve, stating that the conflict—dragging on since December—could be settled “within half a day” if Ruginienė demonstrated political will. “The prime minister could simply summon the minister and say what needs to be done, and it would be resolved,” he said.
Under the coalition agreement, LVŽS is entitled to two deputy minister posts but currently holds only one. The Social Democrats, another coalition partner, had proposed offering the party an advisory role in a ministry instead. Veryga criticised this as insufficient, questioning whether his party should resort to “public tantrums” to secure its due. “We’re not like that,” he asserted.
The dispute centres on the Agriculture Ministry, where LVŽS-nominated deputy minister Artūras Pekauskas and advisor Mindaugas Petkevičius were pressured to resign under the “Nemunas Dawn” party’s leadership. Veryga accused “Nemunas Dawn” of demanding an additional deputy minister post in the Economy and Innovation Ministry, threatening to remove LVŽS’s remaining deputy minister if their demand was not met.
Veryga framed the conflict as a matter of upholding agreements, warning that failure to do so erodes public trust. “If commitments mean nothing here, people will assume they mean nothing elsewhere,” he said. He insisted the party would not accept an advisory role in lieu of a deputy minister post, describing the latter as a “position that effectively changes nothing at the state level” but remains a symbolic commitment under the coalition deal.
The LVŽS leader confirmed the party expects a deputy minister position in another ministry as compensation.