How do you get here, Juozai? Marijuana doesn't help? Those spinsters can't handle state governance?

"The Lithuanian Peasants 'and Greens' Union (LVŽS), which met on Friday, calls on the government to distance itself from the tax reform that increases the tax burden on the population within three weeks, fundamentally change the COVID-19 pandemic management and vaccination strategy, publicly account for migrant crisis management costs and set clear deadlines when the review of migrants' asylum applications will be completed. 

If these requirements were not met, the LVŽS Council adopted a decision to oblige the LVŽS shadow government together with the LVŽS faction in the Seimas to prepare an interpellation for Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė. The statement of the LVŽS council states that the country's economy, for the first time after the crisis of 2008-2009, is experiencing a tense critical situation: rising inflation, rising prices for electricity, gas and other goods, rising structural unemployment, and increasing social exclusion along with other negative indicators. 

The LVŽS also emphasizes that Lithuania is facing and will face in the near future the consequences of the conflict diplomacy carried out by the rulers - the risk of declining export competitiveness and investment attractiveness. The LVŽS Council also does not agree with the planned tax reform in the Government, which will basically mean a tax increase and a higher tax burden for all Lithuanians. It is stated that the tax increase is planned in all areas related to the consumption of the population and the satisfaction of daily needs. LVŽS notes that forest land will be taxed and other land taxes will be raised, and also states that real estate taxes will be increased. The LVŽS council emphasizes that car taxation will also change: in addition to the car's first registration tax, there will be an annual tax, which, unfortunately, will be felt most by people with lower incomes who are unable to buy a new ecological car. 

It is pointed out that solid fuels, depending on the type, will become more expensive by about 15-30% after 2023, as well as that the projected change in oil gas prices for household consumers after 2023 will be about 102%. The LVŽS council emphasizes that the price of water extraction will be increased, thus the water reaching the consumers will become more expensive, and the removal of garbage will become more expensive, as the fees for landfills will be increased from 10 EUR per tonne to 50-70 EUR per tonne. The tax burden on self-employed persons will also be increased. 

"During this year, Lithuania has made significant mistakes in managing the COVID-19 pandemic and organizing vaccination, which not only increased conflicts in the society, but also caused severe economic and social consequences, harmed people's mental health, children's education process, will have negative consequences in the future, discredited the value of vaccination as a means of ensuring public health,” - the LVŽS Council said in a statement. 

It also highlights the migration crisis, which has been fueled by the actions of those in power. It is being managed irresponsibly, without proper dialogue with local communities, without transparency in public procurement, without security for crisis management staff, and pushing the country into a situation where the ministers have no vision of speeding up the processing of asylum applications and expelling illegal migrants, when investments are made in both the construction of the border barbed wire fence and the purchase of migrant shelters, and as the situation worsens, it becomes clear that if we are unable to expel the migrants, the state will be forced to continue investing in their maintenance and integration. 

The LVŽS Council also emphasizes the long-standing problems in the areas curated by the Ministries of Environment, Education, Science and Sports, and Energy, which are not addressed ambitiously enough or the chosen solutions do not represent the interests of the Lithuanian population (LNG terminal tender, all possibilities for formulating a policy to regulate these prices are avalable since these companies are owned by the state). 

At the meeting, the Council considered the possibility of recommending that the faction in the Seimas announce an interpellation to the Ministers of Health, Interior and Foreign Affairs, but decided not to issue this recommendation, as the interpellation to individual ministers would not solve the problem of chaotic state governance. 

 "I invite all opposition factions in the Seimas to join the requirements set by the LVŽS for I. Šimonytė's Government," says Ramūnas Karbauskis, the chairman of the LVŽS. The report states that the LVŽS Council sees public concern and, if the government does not change its actions, will support public calls for the government to withdraw."