Lithuania parliament confirms Ruginiene as prime minister

TLE DESK: Lithuania’s parliament on Tuesday confirmed
Inga Ruginiene as prime minister following the collapse of the previous
government in July over a corruption scandal.

Ruginiene, who was social security minister in the old government, has vowed
to continue supporting Ukraine and invest in the country’s defence while
seeking to reduce inequalities.

But several thousand people staged a demonstration against the new
government, with organisers accusing it of including politicians who oppose
sanctions against Russia and Belarus as well as anti-vaccine campaigners, reports AFP.

Ruginiene, a 44-year-old former trade union leader who is from the Lithuanian
Social Democratic Party LSDP, the biggest in the ruling coalition, now has 15
days to put her cabinet and government programme to a vote.

“My biggest dream is to stand in front of you again at the end of my mandate
and to say that we have been able to accomplished very important work,”
Ruginiene, who was only elected as a lawmaker last year, told parliament.

Former Social Democrat prime minister Gintautas Paluckas resigned on August 1
amid an investigation into several companies he was linked with.

The current coalition, led by the LSDP, includes the populist Nemunas Dawn
party, the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union, the Electoral Action of Poles
in Lithuania-Christian Families, and independent lawmakers.

The centre-left Democrats “For Lithuania” has withdrawn saying it could not
work with Nemunas Dawn, whose leader Remigijus Zemaitaitis gave up his
parliament seat in 2023 over controversy about alleged antisemitic comments
but was reelected last year.

President Gitanas Nauseda has backed the new government but told a Lithuanian
radio station on Tuesday that including Nemunas Dawn was “a mistake that was
difficult to avoid”.

Waldemar Tomaszewski, head of the Polish-Christian alliance and a European
parliament member, was accused of supporting the Kremlin, but denied the
allegations.One of the independent deputies, Ignas Vegele, made headlines by campaigning
against restrictions imposed during the Coronavirus pandemic. He came third
in Lithuania’s presidential election last year when he vowed to oppose “LGBTQ
propaganda”.