PM says family support package may change but its core will stay

Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius says the government’s family support package may be modified, but its main purpose will remain unchanged. Coalition partners must agree on funding priorities as they prepare next year’s budget, he told reporters at the Seimas on Thursday, LRT reported.

“The package will happen. It may be modified to some extent, but its essence will not change,” Sinkevičius said, adding that Lithuania must address its demographic situation as a serious issue for the country’s future. He said the coalition needed an agreement before bringing proposals to a parliamentary vote.

The prime minister said an agreement had been reached on raising the cap for the childcare benefit to four average monthly wages from July 1 next year. Discussions are continuing on other measures, including free meals for schoolchildren. Proposals include providing meals to third-graders from next September and to fourth-graders from 2028.

Virginijus Sinkevičius, leader of the Democrats “For Lithuania” party, said earlier on Thursday that affordable housing and benefits equal to 100% of earnings during paternity and maternity leave were the package’s two essential conditions. He said his party was ready to discuss other measures.

He also called for free meals to be fully extended to primary school pupils, saying poverty among children remained high and that, for some, a school meal was their only hot meal of the day.

The government has said next year’s state budget will allocate about 150 million euros to the package. Its broader goal is to increase the birth rate, with almost 800 million euros estimated to be needed for the measures by 2034.

The plan proposes free meals, without an income test, for all pupils in grades five to 10 from 2029 to 2034, at an estimated public cost of 376 million euros. It also includes about 123.6 million euros for higher childcare benefits, 110 million euros for childcare and activity vouchers covering services such as nannies, after-school groups and camps for children under 12, and 67 million euros to help people buy their first home.

Other proposed measures include about 50 million euros for pension insurance during childcare and caregiving, around 11 million euros to increase sickness benefits for parents caring for ill children, and financial incentives for families returning to live in Lithuania.