President: submitted budget is insufficient step towards welfare state

The budget bill the Lithuanian government has put before the country's parliament is an important but insufficient step for Lithuania moving towards a welfare state, President Gitanas Nauseda said in an interview with the Verslo Zinios business daily.

"In its existing form, I consider the next year's budget bill an important, though insufficient, step for Lithuania moving towards a welfare state," he said.

Nauseda underlined that growing pensions, the child benefit and wages "are a necessity" but he also called for not limiting oneself to just raising social payouts and improve public services, including the areas of education, healthcare and public security, and step up the fight against tax evasion and corruption.