Gabrielius Landsbergis
Gabrielius Landsbergis | |
|---|---|
 Landsbergis in 2024 | |
| Minister for Foreign Affairs | |
| Assumed office 11 December 2020 | |
| Prime Minister | Ingrida Šimonytė |
| Preceded by | Linas Linkevičius |
| President of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe | |
| Assumed office 17 May 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Dominique Hasler |
| Member of Seimas | |
| Assumed office 14 November 2016 | |
| Preceded by | Rasa Juknevičienė (Žaliakalnis) Vincė Vaidevutė Margevičienė (Centras) |
| Constituency | Centras – Žaliakalnis |
| Chairman of the Homeland Union | |
| Assumed office 25 April 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Andrius Kubilius |
| Leader of the Opposition | |
| In office 10 March 2020 – 12 November 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Julius Sabatauskas |
| Succeeded by | Saulius Skvernelis (2021) |
| Member of the European Parliament for Lithuania | |
| In office 1 July 2014 – 12 May 2016 | |
| Succeeded by | Laima Liucija Andrikienė |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 7 January 1982 Vilnius, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union |
| Political party | Homeland Union |
| Spouse | Austėja Landsbergienė |
| Children | 4 |
| Alma mater | Vilnius University |
Gabrielius Landsbergis (born 7 January 1982) is a Lithuanian politician and academic serving as the current Lithuanian minister of Foreign Affairs since 2020 in the Šimonytė Cabinet.[1] A member of the Seimas for the Žaliakalnis constituency,[2] and a former member of the European Parliament with the Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats). He has been the Chairman of the Homeland Union since 2015.
Early life and education
[edit]Gabrielus Landsbergis was born in Vilnius on 7 January 1982.
In 2003, Landsbergis graduated from the Faculty of History, Vilnius University and gained a bachelor's degree; in 2005, he graduated from Vilnius University Institute of International Relations and Political Science, gaining a master's degree in International Relations.
Career
[edit]He worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania and the Chancellery of the President of Lithuania. In 2007 he joined the staff of the Lithuanian embassy in the Kingdom of Belgium and to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Landsbergis returned to Lithuania in 2011 and worked in the Chancellery of the Government of Lithuania. Landsbergis speaks Lithuanian (native) and English.[3]
MEP, MP, Minister of Foreign Affairs
[edit]On 8 January 2014, Landsbergis was selected as leading candidate for the Homeland Union's list in 2014 European Parliament election,[4] and was a Member of the European Parliament between 2014 and 2016.
Landsbergis served on the Committee on International Trade and on the Subcommittee on Security and Defence. In addition to his committee assignments, he was a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Children's Rights.[5]
On 25 April 2015, Landsbergis was elected as Chairman of the Homeland Union, defeating former speaker of the Seimas Irena Degutienė in the contest.[6] He was reelected in 2017; in 2021 he was approved without voting taking place, as all 15 competitors withdrew[7]. Both right and left-wing commentators have attributed Landsbergis' success in party politics to nepotism[8][9].
When Landsbergis asked to meet with Russian MPs and officials in Moscow in 2015 amid the Russo-Ukrainian War, his request was denied.[10]
In November 2015, Landsbergis was selected to stand in Žaliakalnis single-member constituency to the upcoming parliamentary election.[11] Due to the redrawing of single-member constituencies' boundaries, Landsbergis was proposed to the newly established Centras–Žaliakalnis single-member constituency (Centras single-member constituency candidate Gintarė Skaistė joined the multi-member list instead).[12]
By March 2016, Landsbergis resigned from the European Parliament. In the 2016 parliamentary elections, Landsbergis was the only Homeland Union candidate to win a single-member constituency in Kaunas.[13] After these elections, Landsbergis proposed to hold a leadership election, which he won.
Landsbergis ranked among the 5 wealthiest members of the 2016–2020 Seimas primarily due to his wife's chain of private schools and kindergartens which are partly funded from public sources, with estimated wealth of €19.9 million.[14] Questions have been raised about suspicious business transactions in the context of a potential conflict of interest but the matter did not go to court, although the National Tax Inspection did start a formal investigation.[15]
In late 2023, 1,8% of Lithuanians viewed him favourably.[16]
Landsbergis is member of European Council of Foreign Relations, a leftwing thinktank[17].
Family
[edit]Landsbergis' father is Vytautas V. Landsbergis, a Lithuanian writer, and his mother is Giedrė Bukelytė. Gabrielius is the grandson of Vytautas Landsbergis, a prominent Lithuanian politician who was one of the founders of Sąjudis and the Chairman of the Reconstituent Seimas of Lithuania after its independence declaration from the Soviet Union.
His great-grandfather was Vytautas Landsbergis-Žemkalnis, a minister in the Nazi-leaning Provisional Government of Lithuania in 1941 formed by the controversial Lithuanian Activist Front. In 1959 Žemkalnis returned to USSR across the Iron Curtain from exile in Australia, a unique case at the time, and was granted preferential treatment in Soviet Lithuania.
He is married to Austėja Landsbergienė (née Čijauskaitė). The couple has four children.
Honors
[edit]
Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 3rd class (Ukraine, 23 August 2022)[18]
References
[edit]- ^ "President approves makeup of Simonyte Cabinet". DELFI. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
- ^ "Members of the Seimas | Gabriel Landsbergis". www.lrs.lt. Archived from the original on 25 May 2020. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
- ^ "Naujienos lrytas.lt". www.lrytas.lt. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
- ^ "Kaip pianistę keičia V. Landsbergio anūkas". DELFI.
- ^ "Members of the European Parliament Intergroup on Children's Rights" (PDF). European Parliament - europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
- ^ "Naujienos lrytas.lt". www.lrytas.lt. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
- ^ "Gabrielius Landsbergis patvirtintas TS-LKD pirmininku". Retrieved 3 August 2024.
- ^ "Landsbergiai – nepotizmas – korupcija". Retrieved 3 August 2024.
- ^ "Lithuania: NEPOTIZMAS ARBA KAIP LIETUVA TAMPA LANSBERGIŲ GIMINĖS ĮKAITE". Retrieved 3 August 2024.
- ^ Rettman, Andrew (23 January 2015). "Russia suspends official EU parliament visits". EUobserver. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
- ^ "TS-LKD pirmininkas G. Landsbergis į Seimą kandidatuos Kaune". DELFI.
- ^ "Perbraižytos apygardos verčia partijas keisti rinkimų planus" [Changes to constituency borders force parties to change plans]. Delfi.lt (in Lithuanian). 18 December 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
- ^ "Iš konservatorių tvirtovės Kaune liko tik Žaliakalnis | Diena.lt". kauno.diena.lt. 25 October 2016.
- ^ "Turtingiausių politikų penketuke – Matijošaitis, Karbauskis ir Gabrielius Landsbergis". lrt.lt. 23 September 2019. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
- ^ "Persigalvojo: paviešinus deklaracijas VMI pradėjo su Landsbergiene siejamos bendrovės tyrimą". lrt.lt. 22 July 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
- ^ "Naujausi reitingai: rinkiminiam sezonui prasidėjus, gyventojai politikų ginčams išliko apatiški". Kauno diena (in Lithuanian). 2 November 2023. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
Už dešimtuko ribų – Seimo pirmininkė Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen (2,2 proc.), antisemitizmu kaltinamas parlamentaras Remigijus Žemaitaitis (2,1 proc.), „valstiečių" lyderis Ramūnas Karbauskis (2 proc.), konservatorių pirmininkas Gabrielius Landsbergis (1,8 proc.)
- ^ "Naujausi reitingai: rinkiminiam sezonui prasidėjus, gyventojai politikų ginčams išliko apatiški". eufr.eu.
Council members
- ^ "УКАЗ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА УКРАЇНИ №595/2022". president.gov.ua. 23 August 2022. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
External links
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