Lithuanian, hotels and cafés are gearing up for a protest in Vilnius next Thursday to restaurants object against rising taxes. Similar actions are also planned in Estonia and Latvia.
The director of the Lithuanian Association of Hotels and Restaurants is Evalda Siskauskiene. The association is organising the protest, and she says that the protesters will gather in front of the government building in Lithuania’s capital city.
A video about the current situation in the hospitality sector will be broadcast at all restaurants and cafés during the protest.
“We’ll gather in Kudirkos Square in front of the government building, as always,” Siskauskiene told BNS on Friday. “Latvians will protest outside the Saeima in Riga, and Estonians will protest at restaurants, because the government’s decision to raise the VAT rate will affect not just restaurants, but other industries, as well.”
“We’ll all be protesting at the same time,” she added.
Estonian restaurants will suspend service for 20 minutes during the protest, but Lithuanians will not follow suit, because that would have too much of a negative impact on restaurants which are already struggling, Siskauskiene explained.
“Consumption is sharply down, and if we scared people by closing restaurants during the protest, that could cause immediate bankruptcy,” she says. “You cannot even imagine how dire the situation is right now.”
Official statistics show that combined sales for Lithuanian restaurants, cafés and other food providers dropped by 7.3% on the year to EUR 1.056 billion, not including VAT.
The VAT rate for food service establishments was cut to 9% in July 2021 to help businesses affected by the Covid epidemic, but it was raised back to the standard 21% at the beginning of this year.
Source: BNS
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