According to the President, Lithuania as well as the entire European Union give priority to social security. As over 23 percent of people in Europe are exposed to risk of poverty and social exclusion, it is important for each member state and the EU to undertake efforts to ensure people’s prosperity.
In Gothenburg, the heads of the main EU institutions signed a declaration on enhancing social rights in the EU. This represents a political agreement to focus more on social security at the top level of the EU and promote the necessary reforms in the member states. For Lithuania, this is an opportunity to ask for more structural funds for social needs in the negotiations on the new EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework.
According to Dalia Grybauskaitė, the European Union may only contribute to addressing the issues of poverty, social exclusion and unemployment as people’s well-being is the primary responsibility of the national governments. This makes political Gothenburg declaration a push for Lithuania’s government to avoid delaying the necessary reforms in education and social protection as well as to ensure labor market access to the disabled, finalize pension reform, enhance fight against shadow economy and improve employment opportunities while eliminating obstacles for small and family businesses.
Under the President’s initiative, the amendments on the laws of vocational training and employment, aimed at ensuring more quality and flexibility in training of skills that match economic needs, were already tabled to the Seimas. This is to help people to acquire new, improve existing qualifications, and remain competitive in the labor market.
As of the beginning of Lithuania’s membership in the EU, economic well-being based on GDP per capita has already reached 75 percent of the Community’s average. However, low income and low standard of living are the most important national problems for 40 percent of the Lithuanian people.
