[Via Communist Internet... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] . . ----- Original Message ----- From: Downwithcapitalism <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, June 22, 2001 6:18 PM Subject: [downwithcapitalism] Lithuania moves left Agence France Presse. 22 June 2001. Lithuanian leftists begin talks to form new government. VILNIUS -- Lithuania's ex-communist Social Democratic party is ready to form a government, the party's leader and former president Algirdas Brazauskas said Friday after holding talks with a center-left party. "I am ready to form a government," Brazauskas told journalists after meeting with his counterpart from the Social Liberals, Arturas Paulauskas. Talks on hashing out a government program are expected to begin on Monday and finish on Tuesday, officials said. "In our discussions we have laid the basis for common work in the future," said Paulauskas. "We will work together to form a stable government." Brazauskas, 68, who served as president from 1993-1998, is set to become the next prime minister. "I don't see any other possibility," he told journalists. The two parties may not sign a formal coalition agreement, party officials said, as that would entail a redistribution of posts in the parliament, where the Social Liberals are ensconced. The Social Liberals, also known as the New Union party, ended talks earlier Friday with the Liberal Union, with which they had formed a government after parliamentary elections last October. The Social Liberals sparked the political crisis on Monday by withdrawing their support from the government in a dispute over privatisation and tax reform policies. The party demanded the Liberal Union's Rolandas Paksas resign as prime minister as the price for remaining in government, and on Wednesday Paksas stepped down, but the parties could not resolve their differences. Brazauskas, who served as president from 1993-1998, now looks increasingly likely to become the next prime minister, analysts said. The Social Democrats, with 50 of the 141 seats in parliament, are the biggest single party. The Social Liberals, who share similar views with the Social Democrats on many issues, have 29 seats in the parliament. * * * * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
