The ruling parties "remained deaf and blind to the real and legitimate needs of the police despite all our initiatives regarding the financing of the system for the next year," it said in a statement.
"When we saw the draft, we were once again convinced that it was prepared by people who do not care about the Lithuanian police and public safety,“ Ineta Kursevičienė, head of the union, is cited as saying in the organisation’s press release.
More and more officers are leaving the service as a result of the government’s inattention to the police, according to her.
"The average wage of police officers still lags far behind that of other civil servants. They are increasingly opting for second jobs, after which they go to work without rest, and here they are forced to work overtime," says Kursevičienė.
The additional EUR 54 million for the pay budget of all the institutions under the Ministry of Interior is slightly more than half of the system’s total need for 2025, she said.
"We have no choice but to ask for help from the people of Lithuania. No, certainly not financially. Just come to the elections and save statutory officers from the leadership of the Ministry of the Interior who fight for the system not with deeds, but with empty words," the trade union’s leader stated.
The draft budget tabled by the Cabinet earlier this week envisages EUR 46.4 million to pay raises of the internal affairs system’s officers, such as firefighters of the PRAGD and police officers, as well as prosecutors and investigators.
Commissioner General Renatas Požėla earlier told the 15min.lt news website that the police leadership is asking for an additional EUR 100 million in the next year’s budget. According to Požėla, most of these funds would be earmarked for the pay budget raise.