83 MPs voted in favor, 39 were against, and nine abstained. The Social Democrats, members of the Labor Party and the Order and Justice Party as well as representatives of the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania voted in favor of the government program. Meanwhile the Conservatives and Liberals voted against, and members of the Path of Courage and non-affiliated MPs abstained.
A simple majority is needed to approve a government program. Following the government approval, the prime minister and ministers will be sworn in and will assume their duties.
The main goal of the center-left Cabinet is to follow the path of building a welfare state by reducing social exclusion and carrying out tax reforms to ensure "more even distribution of tax burden between labor and capital, greater progressiveness of income and property taxation, and application of only socially significant and purposeful tax concessions."
Among urgent priorities, the new Cabinet named the LNG terminal project in the port of Klaipėda, launched by the outgoing government, and there's no categorical "no" to the Visaginas nuclear power plant project despite previous plans in the draft program to discontinue the project in response to the results of a recent advisory referendum.
The draft government program registered in the Seimas stipulates that taking into account the results of the referendum on the construction of the new nuclear power plant, the country's National Energy Strategy will be reviewed and it will evaluate "the nuclear energy outlook."
Following the Seimas elections in October, the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania, the Labor Party, the Order and Justice Party, and the Electoral Action of Poles formed a ruling coalition and the four parties have 85 seats in the 141-seat parliament.
Cabinet dominated by Social Democrats
Lithuania's 16th government took an oath at parliament on Thursday afternoon after MPs approved its program.
The center-left Cabinet will be headed by Social Democrat Algirdas Butkevičius.
The Ministry of Health will be headed by Social Democrat Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis, Dailis Alfonsas Barakauskas of the Order and Justice party will be the minister of the interior, Social Democrat Juozas Bernatonis will serve as the justice minister.
The Labor Party's Šarūnas Birutis was sworn in as the minister of culture, Vigilijus Jukna of the Labor Party took over as the agriculture minister. The post of the foreign minister will be filled by Social Democrat Linas Linkevičius, while the Order and Justice party's Valentinas Mazuronis will head the Environment Ministry.
The Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania delegated Jaroslav Neverovič as the energy minister. The Defense Ministry will be headed by Social Democratic Juozas Olekas. The Social Security and Labor Ministry will be led by Labor's Algimanta Pabedinskienė.
Dainius Pavalkis of the Labor Party will be the education and science minister, while Social Democrats Rimantas Sinkevičius, Rimantas Šadžius, and Birutė Vėsaitė will serve as the ministers of transport and communications, finance, and economy, respectively.
The 16th government will include eight Social Democratic members (including the prime minister), four members of the Labor Party, two members of the Order and Justice Party, and one member of the Electoral Action of Poles.
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| Juliaus Kalinsko/„15 minučių“ nuotr./The new cabinet took oath |
