Butkevičius: AWPL (Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania) has joined the coalition

Algirdas Butkevičius, the Social Democrat leader, said that Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania has joined the governing coalition. AWPL will get one ministry but it is not established which one. 

Before that, Butkevičius had said that AWPL would get one ministry and two deputy minister positions.

“We are satisfied. Of course our decision has to be approved by the party Council as the Council has decided that the conditions of our acceding the coalition should not be worse that the ones the Order and Justice Party had. As far as we know, the conditions will be a bit worse than we expected but I will not reveal any details”, said Waldemar Tomaszewski, AWPL leader, on Tuesday.

It was also mentioned that the coalition intends to introduce changes to the Education Act which include standardization of the Lithuanian language exam.

PL DELFI reminds that, on Tuesday, AWPL has set the conditions for the party’s entry into the coalition. AWPL demands that the whole country turn to biofuel and the local roads funds be increased by 30%. AWPL also insists on increasing the minimum wage to 1,200 Lithuanian litas by the end of 2013; finalizing the agricultural reform and making a complete settlement with the owners of the land nationalized during the Soviet period.

AWPL asked its partners not to block the projects submitted by the party. It is known that AWPL is guided by strict Catholic values, so it is in favor of the abolition of abortion and it is against in vitro fertilization. The party also wants the word “family” to mean only marriage.

Source:  http://pl.delfi.lt/aktualia/litwa/butkevicius-awpl-dolaczyla-do-koalicji.d?id=59985809

Tłumaczenie Marta Dubiel w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Marta Dubiel the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.