Ruginiene becomes Lithuania’s prime minister, pledges more defence spending

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By Andrius Sytas

VILNIUS (Reuters) -Lithuania’s parliament voted in favour of Social Democrat Inga Ruginiene’s proposed government platform on Thursday, making her the Baltic country’s new prime minister.

Ruginiene, a former trade union leader who only entered national politics in 2024, pledged continuity with the previous pro-Ukraine, pro-defence-spending government.

The new centre-right coalition was formed after Lithuania’s former government broke down in July over the then prime minister’s ties to a company owned by a family member.

Ruginiene, 44, has said she will maintain Lithuania’s support for Ukraine as well as pledging to spend 5-6% of gross domestic product on defence over the next few years.

“My goal is that at the end of my term people feel more secure, due to better defence but also due to better social care,” she told reporters.

In parliament, 80 of the 141 members backed the new government platform while 40 voted against it and two abstained. The remaining members were absent.

After the sudden resignation of Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas’ cabinet in July, Ruginiene reconfigured his coalition and is expected to control 82 seats in parliament.

BRIBERY, CORRUPTION

Ruginiene has been criticised by opponents for her decision to retain the populist Nemunas Dawn party, whose leader Remigijus Zemaitaitis is on trial over social media comments he made about Israel and Jews in 2023.

Zemaitaitis denies wrongdoing and resigned from parliament in April 2024, ahead of an impeachment vote, after the Constitutional Court ruled he had broken his oath by stirring up hatred against Jews. He was re-elected to parliament in October 2024.

Zemaitaitis has been critical of the pledge to increase defence spending, saying Lithuania should not divert resources from needs such as education and social security, and has described Ukraine as rife with “bribery, corruption, selling out its armaments and selling out its own country”.

Several thousand people protested against Nemunas Dawn’s inclusion in Vilnius in September.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda had previously said he would ringfence the cabinet by not allowing either Zemaitaitis or other National Dawn party members to serve in the cabinet.

Lithuania’s next parliamentary election is not due until 2028.

(Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius, editing by Essi Lehto, Terje Solsvik and Ed Osmond)