VILNIUS, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis on Tuesday denied suggestions by the country's parliamentary opposition that he would resign in the event that the parliament rejects his government's tax and pension system reform.
"The government is ready to ensure that the reforms which were submitted to the parliament are implemented," Skvernelis said in an interview with national radio broadcaster LRT.
"Those should step down are those who are not in favor of more than a million working people getting higher revenues due to the reform, who don't want Lithuania to become the most competitive country in the region," he added.
Skvernelis expressed hope that the parliament would approve the tax reform by July 1 which would allow the changes to be introduced in 2019.
In his words, taxes on workers' salaries would decrease by one billion euros (1.16 billion U.S. dollars) within three years due to the reform.
The prime minister said last week that some of the government's proposed tax and pension system improvements are making slow progress through parliament, and hoped to reach a compromise and carry through the planned changes.
Meanwhile, the chairman of opposition's Homeland Union - Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) Gabrielius Landsbergis said on Monday that it is "obvious" from public discussions among lawmakers from the ruling Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union (LZVS) that there are disagreements within the party.
Stasys Jakeliunas, a member of LZVS and one of the main finance experts in the party, earlier criticized some parts of the planned tax reform on his Facebook profile.
"If the main 'tax person' within the farmers' party does not agree with the planned tax changes, how can we speak about any compromise?" Landsbergis was quoted as saying by local website Delfi.
"The Prime Minister repeatedly mentioned at various meetings that if he does not see a real support from the ruling majority, he would consider stepping down," the head of TS-LKD party added.
Ramunas Karbauskis, the leader of LVZS and Member of Parliament, said the compromise proposals were drafted after relevant discussions at the parliamentary committees last week.
"In essence, we all agree with the Cabinet's position regarding the essential principles of the tax reform: wage-related taxes in Lithuania must be the smallest among the Baltic States, the tax system has to be made clearer and more socially just. Therefore, there are no reasons for parliament to stop the measures suggested by the government," Karbauskis was quoted as saying by news agency Elta.
