Seimas speaker critical of initiative to merge business watchdog institutions

Loreta Graužinienė
DELFI / Šarūnas Mažeika

“First of all, I do not approve of it as the minister has not consulted the partners of the Coalition at all. As I understand, it was not discussed within the Government either, it might be an opinion provided by the working group,” said Graužinienė in an interview to the Žinių Radijas radio on Wednesday.

According to her, institutional mergers should be implemented with a view on which structures are redundant and overlapping.

“And to create a monster, which may then stall everything in the country, tax collection, and cause inconvenience to people, it is not rational. The more so, as their functions are very different,” said Graužinienė.

Graužinienė does not think that merging the State Tax Inspectorate, the Customs, or the State Social Insurance Fund Board (SoDra) will facilitate business environment.

“There will be more of a mess, as it will cost much to the state. There should be a thorough analysis if it will bring any benefits and how many. Another question is how efficient these new institutions will be,” said Graužinienė.

The reform of business supervision institutions has been ongoing in Lithuania since 2009. The aim is to cut some of the red tape for businesses, reduce potential for corruption, and ensure that legal requirements related to supervision are not only understandable but also easily and conveniently accessible.

According to preliminary estimates, after reviewing 68 institutions, 11 of them have been singled out for closure, transferring their functions to other institutions. One supervisory body is already shut down, another four institutions would become non-supervisory bodies.

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