The partners of the coalition came back to the issue of the return of reduced pensions in Lithuania what was a result of the economic recession. As it was informed by the coalition partners, after a long debate they have managed to overcome the opposition of social democrats, and a consensus on the compensation of reduced pensions was attained - it was decided to compensate the part of 20 per cent of the reduced pensions yet this year.

There was also an issue of the lack of Law on National Minorities in Lithuania and problems related to it on the agenda of today's meeting. The political council of the ruling coalition has come to an agreement on restoring the Law on National Minorities of 1991 during the next parliamentary session until a new version of the law is adopted.

Coalition's partners have also discussed the situation that had occurred after a judgement of the Vilnius Regional Court from 23rd December, when a horrendous penalty was imposed on Boleslav Daškevič, Director of the Administration of Šalčininkai district, for the use of the mother tongue. Participants of the meeting of the political council have condemned the judgment of the court, which caused a national tension in Lithuania, and named it a political decision.

The issue of Renata Cytacka was raised as well. In her letter, Renata Cytacka has expressed a support for Valdemar Tomaševski's speech in European Parliament, where he stood up for the rights of national minorities, and was regretting the statement of the President Dalia Grybauskaitė, who according to the author has misinformed the international community. The coalition's partners have agreed that in her statement R. Cytacka has expressed herself as an individual, and that every citizen has the right to express his opinion freely.

L24.lt has managed to find out that during the political council of the ruling coalition the upcoming double elections in Lithuania were also discussed: elections of the president of the country and the elections to the European Parliament. The ruling parties have discussed the possibility of reconciliation and coordination of activities among the coalition partners during the election campaign.

The election campaign in our country is often accompanied by extreme moods, radical statements and even an explosion of the conflicts between the parties; this is why the coalition partners were considering how to prevent such tendencies, how to impound the situation where the coalition partners have lack of mutual trust, how to avoid unreasonable and unconstructive mutual criticism.

The Chairman of the meeting Valdemar Tomaševski has come up with the proposal of signing an agreement on a fair and competitive political struggle during the upcoming election campaign and this proposal has gained the favour of all the leaders of the ruling parties. It was decided that such an agreement will be signed at the following meeting of the political council.

The members of the ruling coalition will propose to sign such a document to all parties which are going to participate in the upcoming elections.

We would like to remind that the ruling coalition in Lithuania is formed of the social democrats, the Labour Party, the 'Order and Justice' party and the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania. Meetings of the political council of the ruling coalition mostly take place on Mondays and are chaired by the parties' leaders of the ruling coalition on a rotating basis.