Lietuva in brief - 2011-09-22

  • 2011-09-21

An opinion poll in August did not bring any surprises as to the ratings of public institutions. The most favorable are firefighters, the least: the Seimas and the government, reports ELTA. More than half of the respondents showed the most confidence in the Fire and Rescue Service (85 percent of respondents), the Presidential Office (71 percent), the Church (66 percent), the national defense system (61 percent), the Constitutional Court (56 percent), the Bank of Lithuania (54 percent) and the police (50 percent). The respondents said they viewed the Lithuania media, the State Border Guard Service and SoDra more favorably than unfavorably. The Seimas saw the least confidence, since as many as 85 percent of the respondents said that they were disappointed with its work. The poll by Baltijos Tyrimai, carried out for ELTA from August 24-31, shows. The government was criticized by 73 percent. More than half of the adult respondents expressed dissatisfaction with the work of the courts (63 percent), the prosecutors’ office (60 percent), customs (52 percent) and commercial banks (50 percent).

The Competition Council should first curb the abuse of dominant position and cartel agreements to protect residents from unjustifiable price increases, said the Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, reports ELTA. It is necessary to work more effectively on the sectors the control of which brings the biggest benefit to an ordinary resident, who suffers from artificial and unreasonable increases in prices of basic products, the head of state noted. Grybauskaite initiated amendments to the Competition Law which provide for more power to the Competition Council and allow for investigation of cartel agreements most detrimental to consumers as a matter of priority. According to the president, adoption of the amendments would enable the Competition Council to give priority to public interests and avoid investigations into small disputes among businesses. The amendments also propose facilitating proceedings to prevent delays, setting a term limit for an investigation and increasing the power of the Competition Council to collect evidence.