„The Peasants have not discussed this issue yet. I would remind you that when the elections were still going on, we had expressed our willingness to cooperate and even assisted the Social Democrats in the second round. What happened is what happened. And now it is the responsibility of the politicians who have formed the ruling majority in this way, and they now have to think how to live with that majority,“ Veryga told Žinių Radijas on Friday.
„We are certainly not going anywhere to destroy any coalitions; we are not some destroyers. Every political force is not coming to save a coalition but to implement its programme – we make promises to the voters during elections. So if something happens, either in the ruling majority or if something new is formed – as in the formation of this (majority – ELTA) if we get a promise, a commitment that our promises to the voters can be fulfilled through the implementation of the programme, then I think every political force thinks about taking part in the government because that is why they go to politics,“ he said.
However, Veryga pointed out that despite the ongoing disputes between the coalition partners in the public domain, Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas insists that the situation in the ruling majority is stable. Therefore, according to the representative of the LVŽS, the talk about the collapse of the coalition resembles „fortune-telling from coffee grounds“.
„But here we have, you know, a kind of fortune-telling because today I only hear such speculations that everything is about to fall apart, that everyone is going to get out of hand, and at the same time, we hear the Prime Minister's declarations that everything is fine here, that we have just been arguing in private, and that we are talking at each other in the public, criticising and so on. If they are comfortable with this way of doing things, if they feel good and believe that they will deliver on their promises by talking at each other while driving around the region, then that is their choice,“ said Veryga.
Earlier, Ramūnas Karbauskis, LVŽS Chairman, had said that he believed that Nemuno Aušra, which was causing tensions in the coalition, would be removed from the ruling majority. However, the politician stressed that the Peasants do not intend to replace Nemuno Aušra in the alliance.
Talk of the collapse of the new centre-left coalition started as early as last December, when Remigijus Žemaitaitis, the Chairman of Nemuno Aušra, announced that he would withdraw from the majority if his candidacy for the Deputy Speaker of Seimas were not submitted to the Seimas.
Žemaitaitis has subsequently changed his rhetoric on this issue—he remains a candidate for the leadership of the Seimas, but he no longer publicly threatens his partners to withdraw from the majority. However, the Nemuno Aušra candidate has also been criticised for his statements on Ukraine and Lithuanian security and defence issues.
In response, President Gitanas Nausėda stated that if Žemaitaitis continues to discredit Lithuania with such statements, changes in the ranks of the current coalition will be inevitable.
„I think we are talking about a very short period when changes will simply be inevitable. Everybody will realise that it is inevitable,“ Nausėda said in an interview with the Business News podcast Kontekstai.
ELTA recalls that LVŽS, which won 8 seats in the Seimas elections, decided to work with three representatives of the Lithuanian Poles' Electoral Action-Christian Families Union (LLRA-KŠS). The parties have formed the Lithuanian Peasants, Greens and Christian Families Union group, which works in the Seimas opposition.
However, after the elections, the Peasants were projected into the coalition ranks – the Social Democrats consulted with the LVŽS on possible joint work. However, in the end, representatives of the Peasants were not invited to the ruling majority.