Lithuania PM says can survive opposition vote loss

Author: 
Reuters
Publication Date: 
Fri, 2010-10-22 00:02

Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said his coalition could survive a decision by the Lithuanian Peasant Popular Union party late on Wednesday to drop its formal backing for the government.
“It’s nothing dramatic ... We will carry one as before,” he told commercial radio. “Our experience shows that we are able to pass key decisions.”
The party, which has three members in the 141-seat parliament, said it was open to talks on the 2011 budget and an analyst said Kubilius must do a deal with it, or find support elsewhere before lawmakers vote on the budget in December.
“The situation for the ruling coalition is getting more complicated as each vote counts,” said Algis Krupavicius, a political science professor at Kaunas Technology University.
“The prime minister will have to try to regain the peasants’ support or reach out to other opposition parties to adopt the budget,” he added.
However, Krupavicius said the government can expect President Dalia Grybauskaite, the country’s most popular political figure and outside party politics, to call on the opposition to back the budget. The chances of a snap election were “close to zero” for the moment, he added.
The center-right government aims to cut the budget deficit to 5.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2011 from an expected 8.1 percent this year.
Lithuania promised the European Union it would cut the deficit further to 3 percent of GDP by 2012 to be able to adopt the euro in 2014, and to stabilise growth in public debt.
Kubilius’s Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats bloc won elections in 2008, but lost his parliamentary majority when a coalition partner split over internal squabbles.
The coalition is now two votes short of a majority and had been relying on the backing of the small peasants’ opposition party. Political tension is expected to rise in Lithuania before local elections, due in February next year.

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