Lietuva in brief - 2011-06-30

Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius urges heating providers to think more about consumers and switch from gas to biofuel, instead of threatening them with huge bills for the upcoming heating season, reports ELTA. Kubilius said that the Seimas is deliberating law amendments that should prevent monopolists from abusing their position. “Heating providers should threaten people less and instead make sure that heat is not wasted, that more houses are renovated; they should also switch from gas to biofuel. […] it is a very bad way of acting which shows that they care about heat consumers least of all, as their primary concern is profit,” Kubilius said. In the view of the PM, heat production, supply systems and maintenance cannot belong to one owner. The gas suppliers forecast that prices of natural gas may go up 30 percent before the beginning of a new heating season, while heating producers publicly urged residents to save for the upcoming heating season rather than enjoy their vacations.

At the end of May, 45 percent of the Lithuanian residents said that the financial situation in their families worsened over the past two months, reports ELTA. The same percentage of respondents said that their financial situation remained unchanged, while 7 percent said that the situation improved, a survey by the market research and public opinion company Baltijos Tyrimai shows. Over the month, the evaluation of household financial situation changed little. Meanwhile, the number of residents who saw their financial situation worsen fell by 11 percent over the past year. In their assessment of democracy in Lithuania, 62 percent of respondents were dissatisfied with the way democracy worked in the country, a decrease by 10 percent year-on-year. A quarter (26 percent) of the respondents viewed the situation favorably, whereas 12 percent of the respondents said they had no opinion on the matter. The survey was carried out from May 25-31.