At the beginning of February, Nausėda submitted draft laws to the Seimas to cushion the effects of inflation. The Head of State proposes increasing the amount of tax-free income (NPD) from EUR 460 to EUR 510 and paying a one-off payment of EUR 100 to the most vulnerable groups in society, such as pensioners, large families or families with difficult living conditions.
„The President's economic proposals, which require changes to the budget, raise legal questions in a constitutional sense. If experts and lawyers say that there is no great need to change the budget because of the proposed increase in the NPD tax, the proposal to adopt a separate law and to pay the benefits from the state budget, which would cost around EUR 100 million, without adjusting the state budget, is practically impossible.
And the constitutionally exclusive right to adjust the budget belongs to the Government. Therefore, on the one hand, the President has the right of initiative. Still, on the other hand, where the Government's garden and its exclusive right are already being interfered with, there is a junction between the authorities, where we do not have an answer,“ Lingė said on the „24/7“ programme of the „Lietuvos rytas“ TV channel.
According to the MP, the Constitutional Court has not yet heard about the President's initiatives.
„Previous presidents, apparently sensing the boundaries between where the Government is and where a different kind of legislation is, did not submit laws that change the budget structure. We have no precedent. The conservative pointed out that this is not the first time such an initiative has been taken“, the conservative pointed out.
The MP said that he was not talking about a specific investigation that the conservatives could launch into the Head of State's proposals, but that this issue would arise on its own at the start of the spring session of the Seimas when the President's advisers would present these initiatives to the Parliament.
Support for the protests was not surprising
During the programme, MP Lingė assured that the conservatives, reacting to the tension in society, were trying to reduce this tension by their rhetoric and public actions. The conservative said that he was not surprised by the results of a poll conducted by Vilmorus, which showed that 40% of the country's population supported the protests organised by the Family Movement.
„I would say that the figure could be higher, given that the Family Movement has not been alone in its protests. We have seen a wide range of political forces and from the current opposition – some have financed the stages for the rallies, others have transported the demonstrations, and others have climbed on the stage and communicated.
If we were to add up the ratings of those parties or political forces that were also aligned and involved in the process, we would see that the 40% would stick together, maybe even more. So we understand that the forms of protest of this movement were united by the fact that they did not like the Government – that was the common denominator,“ Lingė assessed.
President Gitanas Nausėda's proposals to mitigate inflation, which would require adjustments to the state budget, are potentially unconstitutional, said Mindaugas Lingė, a conservative and chairman of the Seimas Committee on Social Affairs and Labour.
Ainė Ramonaitė, a political scientist at the VU TSPMI, presenting the survey data, said that protests, confrontation, and the maintenance of constant tensions are also useful for the conservatives themselves, thus mobilising their electorate.
For his part, Linge argued that if the Conservatives benefited from the protests, the party would not have moved towards dialogue.
„Maybe political scientists could make that calculation. From the steps taken by our political force and the attempts at dialogue and conversation by Professor Vytautas Landsbergis, it is clear that this is more of a path to de-escalation, to de-escalation of tensions, to certain public actions. If this (protests – editor's note) were essential, perhaps different rhetoric would be adopted,“ the conservative said.
„There have been initiatives that have tried to find ways to talk, but it is difficult when there is a screaming phase. But I think that we are getting out of the screaming phase and into another phase where, after the emotions, we can start a dialogue,“ he added.
A.Sysas: „The protests show that the government is fed up.“
Algirdas Sysas, a representative of the opposition Social Democratic Party group in the Seimas, was not convinced by the talk about attempts to reduce societal tensions.
„Since I listened to the balcony speeches (Landsberg's speech from the balcony of the Signatari House – author's note), there were still speeches that were not de-escalation-inducing – about the governor's appointments and other things.
As a French president said, sometimes it is better to keep quiet on some things. But not Vytautas Landsbergis. During the programme, Vytautas Landsbergis cuts his enemies straight with the sword,“ Sysas said.
„People's discontent is rising. Nobody would go, climb and talk if these problems did not exist. I understand that there are forces that especially inspire extra, but everything is accumulating – starting with the pandemic, the restrictions, the increase in prices,“ said the MP.
„We live in a democracy – everyone has the right to say what they think and to whistle or clap to express it“, he added.