VILNIUS, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said on Wednesday that the country's Parliament should include numerous legislative initiatives aimed at accelerating the creation of a welfare state into its autumn agenda.
The initiatives aim to increase tax revenues and reduce poverty, fight income inequality and social exclusion, enhance corruption prevention and increase the efficiency of public procurement, the presidency said in a statement.
"In order to address the challenges of poverty, income inequality and social exclusion, we need to achieve significant growth of socially-oriented budget revenue," Nauseda was quoted as saying in the statement.
Building a "welfare state" in Lithuania was one of Nauseda's key election campaign promises back in May.
Nauseda has proposed increasing social security spending by 100 million euros (110.14 million U.S. dollars) next year, the president's adviser on economic affairs Simonas Krepsta was quoted as saying by local media.
The president will also submit bills that would create the conditions for increasing old-age pensions faster and reducing poverty among the disabled, the presidential statement reads.
The president has pledged to pay more attention to the measures aimed at ensuring more effective control over state expenditure. Nauseda will also submit amendments to the Law on Prevention of Corruption, the Public Procurement Law and numerous other legislative acts, the presidency said.
The Lithuanian Parliament begins its autumn session on Sept. 10.
