Poles will join the coalition

“AWPL (Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania) will join the coalition which is being formed”, said Algirdas Butkevičius, a candidate for the Prime Minister position. Waldemar Tomaszewski, however, makes the final decision conditional on the decision of the party Council. We still do not know which ministry will go to Poles.

“Yesterday we made key decisions and those are our main achievements. Today, we have discussed other aspects of our work in the coalition and we are satisfied at this stage, but we are still waiting for the party Council’s decision. Before that, the Council had decided that the conditions of our acceding the coalition should not be worse than the ones the Order and Justice Party had. As the negotiations have been finished, we know the conditions will be a bit worse than we expected but I will not reveal any details”, said Waldemar Tomaszewski.

As Tomaszewski told the portal “Wilnoteka”, the General Council of AWPL will gather on Thursday. They will discuss the issue of joining the coalition as well as the problem of parliamentary seats. AWPL has announced before that one of its MPs will renounce his seat for Irina Rozowa from the Lithuanian Russian Union, with whom Poles shared the electoral register. For now, the party does not give any specific names.

AWPL will get one of the ministries that have been anticipated for the Labour Party, and they are: the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Social Security and Labour.

Viktoras Uspaskich, the leader of the Labour Party, said that Poles are most interested in the department from which AWPL could make demands that may go to the new government’s programme. He did not say which ministry he meant.

Algirdas Butkevičius, the leader of the Social Democrats, told journalists that during the negotiations they talked with AWPL about the Ministry of Energy. “There is no final decision made. That option, among others, has been discussed”, said Butkevičius. He admitted that there was not enough time to discuss all the possibilities.

Waldemar Tomaszewski categorically refused to comment on the possible ministerial portfolios. He only said that apart from a ministerial position, AWPL will also hold talks about the position of deputy ministers.

The coalition agreement with AWPL will be signed on Thursday. Together with the AWPL representatives the governing coalition will have 85 to 86 seats in the Seimas.