Muntianas faults coalition agreement

  • 2006-04-26

Parliamentary Speaker Viktoras Muntianas found little to like about the recent negotiations between the three ruling parties.

Lithuanian Parliamentary Speaker Viktoras Muntianas, the deputy chairman of the Labor Party, criticized the agreement to divide ministerial positions between the three ruling parties in an interview with Ziniu Radijas on April 26.

"The results of negotiations are inadequate to proportions, inadequate to party capabilities, inadequate to the numbers of mandates," Muntianas said.

With 38 seats, Muntianas' Labor Party makes up the biggest faction in the 141-seat parliament.
The outcome of the coalition talks on April 25 ended up delegating the Foreign Ministry to the National Farmers' Union and the Social Security and Labor Ministry to the Labor Party.

The Social Democratic Party would handle the National Security and Defense Committee. The Labor Party will handle the Committee on Auditing.

A National Farmers' Union member will take on the Constitutional Commission. The Labor Party will take care of the parliamentary commissions on NATO affairs. The Social Democratic Party will take on the Commission on Anti-Corruption.
Muntianas said he disliked the entire idea of the talks. "The issue of expanding the coalition and its potential possibilities should have been a priority. And then we should have divided what we have received," he said.

The ruling coalition is currently comprised of the Social Democratic Party, the Labor Party and the National Farmers' Union.