VILNIUS - Lithuania's new President Dalia Grybauskaite says that not only does the state have to ensure the support of the State Social Insurance Fund SoDra, but it also needs to control monopolies and intervene into the regulation of prices, reports news agency ELTA.
"We have to speak not only about the situation in SoDra, but also about the market situation, prices, monopolies, that can be found in all areas - starting with energy and finishing with food products trade," said her spokesman Linas Balsys after the president's meeting with Social and Labor Minister Donatas Jankauskas.
"The president highlighted that the government should think about how to start and finish market de-monopolization, how to arrest the appetites of monopolies, because this is also related to the people's purchasing power. Yes, on the one hand, we are reducing expenses, at the cost of SoDra, and are cutting where it is possible, but we are not cutting where we cannot cut and are protecting the most vulnerable layers of the society," said Balsys.
He added that, on the other hand, the government should guarantee through its services and offices, that monopolies "reduce their appetites."
