Olekas says family support measures may be delayed

Lithuanian Parliament Speaker Juozas Olekas says some family-support measures in the 2027 state budget could be postponed, with the money redirected to other priorities, LRT reported.

“One of the other challenges in the budget is addressing demographic problems and the family-support package,” Olekas told Žinių radijas on Wednesday. He said discussions were considering whether some measures could be introduced later and their funding used for areas with more pressing needs.

Olekas said strengthening national defence and meeting commitments to allies remained the budget’s main priority. He cited reinforcing the country’s defence system and meeting host-nation commitments to the German brigade and the return of US troops.

He described budget discussions in parliament as intense but similar to those in previous years. Lawmakers and parliamentary committees are seeking more funding for their respective areas, including health, education, culture and internal services. Olekas said the Finance Ministry and prime minister were responding constructively to proposals from both the governing coalition and opposition.

Finance Minister Taurimas Valys has presented a 2027 budget proposal projecting a government-sector deficit of 3.8% of gross domestic product and state debt of 48.2% of GDP. President Gitanas Nausėda has criticised the government for not presenting a concrete plan to reduce the deficit, which is expected to exceed the European Union’s Maastricht limit of 3% of GDP. The limit for state debt is 60% of GDP.

The proposal allocates more than 4.8 billion euros to defence, or 5% of GDP, and plans increases to pensions, the minimum monthly wage, social benefits and public-sector salaries. It forecasts state budget revenue of 22.2 billion euros and expenditure of 27.9 billion euros in 2027. Parliament is scheduled to hold the first reading on November 19 and the second on December 1.