Poles still in the ruling coalition in Vilnius

The composition of the ruling coalition in Vilnius is already known. The coalition agreement of the capital’s local government will be signed on 11 April. Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania – Union of Christian Families and Alliance of Russians will continue to be part of the governing coalition. The capital city council will have 30 men and 21 women in its 2019-2023 term of office.

The governing coalition will be formed by the Civil Committee “Už Vilnių, kuriuo didžiuojamės!” (For Vilnius, of which we are proud!) (18 seats), the Union of Fatherland-Lithuanian Christian Democrats (9 seats), Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania – Union of Christian Families and Alliance of Russians (6 seats) and Labour Party (5 seats).The opposition will include the Coalition of Artūras Zuokas and the Vilnius Laimingas Vilnius (Happy Vilnius, 10 seats) and the Lithuanian Peasants’ and Greens’ Union (3 seats).According to Valdas Benkunskas, the leader of conservatives in Vilnius, the group’s priorities are energy sector and health care.”During the elections we focused mainly on the energy sector and the concept of a healthy city – sport, education on healthy lifestyle, revitalization of parks, bicycle lanes”. – reminded Benkunskas.The EAPL-UCF faction and the Russian Alliance hope to continue the educational policy in the capital. “It seems to me that we have done well in this area. The changes in education in 1.5 years are significant,” said Edita Tamošiūnaitė, the BNS agency.Tamošiūnaitė was a vice-mayor of EAPL-UCF, she was responsible for education issues. In the Council of the previous term, Zbigniew Maciejewski was the deputy of the Committee for Culture, Education and Sport, while Alina Kowalewskaja was the director of the Department of Education, Culture and Sport in the administration of the capital’s local government.

This week, the meetings of the new local government councils, whose members were elected during the March elections, started all over Lithuania. According to the legislation, the new councillors will receive their full rights after the first meeting of the new council. In the Vilnius region, the Trotsky region started work on April 8 at the earliest, the first meeting of the Vilnius district council will take place on April 17 and the capital city council will meet for the first time on April 24.The meeting of the new local government council of the Troki region took place on April 8th. Edita Rudelienė was re-elected as the mayor of the region and the Liberal Movement represented by her received 9 out of 24 seats in the Council. Members of the coalition Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania – Union of Christian Families and Russian Allies have 4 seats: Maria Pucz, Alina Kowalewska, Teresa Sołowjowa and Tadeusz Tuczkowski.As Maria Pucz assured, EAPL-UCF will continue to cooperate with the Liberals. The intention to join the coalition was also expressed by the three-mandate citizens’ committee “Renkuosi ateitį”. (I choose the future).This week’s meetings will also bring together the local councils of Šiauliai and the following regions:Kalvarija, Plungė, Rietavas, Utena, Jonava, Kazlų Rūda, Kretinga, Rokiškis, Šalčininkai, Varėna, Vilkaviškis, Zarasų and Ignalina.

The first meeting of the Vilnius district council will take place on April 17, and the day after that, the councillors of the Święciany region will start their work.The first meetings of the council will take place on April 25 at the latest and will be planned by the local governments in the regions of Panevėžys, Ravlić and Šiluva.Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Karolina Narkiewicz, advisor to Minister of Culture Mindaugas Kvietkauskas, began her duties. She will be responsible for the cultural policy of the regions and the balanced development of cultural services in Lithuania – said the ministry.Until now, Karolina Narkiewicz has been the deputy director of the administration of the Trakai region. Privately, she is the daughter of Jarosław Narkiewicz, MP.Previously, Karolina Narkiewicz was the head of the department of culture and tourism in the local government of Trakai for three years. She received her education in the field of international relations and cultural studies at universities in Finland and Poland, she also completed an internship in the European Parliament, as stated in the announcement.