"In fact there were news yesterday that they might not merge. I can only communicate the president's position to the effect that she does not comment on rumors and speculations. It's an internal matter of parties themselves and the coalition," Budienė told Žinių Radijas (News Radio) on Tuesday.
Meanwhile Lithuania's Social Democrat Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius believes a merger of the Labor Party and the Order and Justice Party should not have influence on the government's work.
"A merger would probably not have any new influence on the government's work," he told the Lithuanian Radio on Tuesday.
In Butkevičius' words, the government is currently united and "if some other interests or wishes arise, nobody will give in to such influences, as the work is intense and responsible, aimed at getting the best and fastest possible results."
Leaders of the Labor Party and the Order and Justice Party plan to discuss a potential merger at the weekend. The two parties' merged group in the Seimas would have 39 seats in the Lithuanian parliament and would outnumber the Social Democrats, currently the largest parliamentary party with 38 seats.
Butkevičius also did not attribute much inportance to such changes as "the government is not some battlefield."
"A government should work responsibly and implement goals it has set for itself. If someone wants to fight in this battlefield at the party level and demonstrate power in numbers, [...] then, I think, it's a bad attitude," Butkevičius said.
The distribution of seats in the Lithuanian Seimas might also be influenced by the results of Seimas elections in the country's three constituencies on March 3.
