Prime minister convenes coalition council before Seimas autumn session

Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius will convene the governing coalition council before Thursday’s first sitting of the Seimas, Lithuania’s parliament, LRT reported.

Coalition partners will discuss the autumn session’s agenda, the Family Package, the government’s programme implementation plan and next year’s budget. The meeting will take place on Thursday morning in Seimas Speaker Juozas Olekas’s office.

“The prime minister and leader of the Social Democratic Party is convening the coalition council to discuss the upcoming Seimas autumn session,” Sinkevičius’s adviser Gedas Salyga told ELTA. He said the Family Package measures would be presented, the government’s programme implementation plan had been completed and discussions on next year’s budget would enter an active phase.

Social Security and Labour Minister Inga Ruginienė has previously said she plans to present the Family Package this autumn. Possible measures include a more flexible child-care leave system, larger benefits, improved access to housing and help for families dealing with children’s activities.

Coalition partners have also discussed the need to increase the birth rate. The Democrats and the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union have raised the issue, along with the possibility of signing a party agreement on demographic policy.

Coalition leaders agreed last week to hold the council meeting. At a working lunch, Sinkevičius met with Democratic Union For Lithuania leader Virginijus Sinkevičius and Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union chairman Aurelijus Veryga to discuss the upcoming parliamentary session, the budget and other issues. Waldemar Tomaszewski, chairman of the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania and the Union of Christian Families, did not attend.