Gabrielius Landsbergis

Gabrielius Landsbergis (born 7 January 1982 in Vilnius) is a Lithuanian politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs in the 18th Government of the Republic of Lithuania led by the Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė. He is a Member of the Seimas for Centras – Žaliakalnis constituency,[1] and a former member of the European Parliament.[2] He was a member of Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats). Landsbergis was elected as the Chairman of the Homeland Union in 2015. He is credited with modernising Homeland Union.[3]

Gabrielius Landsbergis
Official portrait, 2021
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Assumed office
11 December 2020
Prime MinisterIngrida Šimonytė
Preceded byLinas Linkevičius
Leader of the Opposition
In office
10 March 2020 – 12 November 2020
Preceded byJulius Sabatauskas
Succeeded bySaulius Skvernelis (2021)
Member of Seimas
Assumed office
14 November 2016
Preceded byRasa Juknevičienė (Žaliakalnis)
Vincė Vaidevutė Margevičienė (Centras)
ConstituencyCentras – Žaliakalnis
Chairman of the Homeland Union
Assumed office
25 April 2015
Preceded byAndrius Kubilius
Member of the European Parliament
In office
1 July 2014 – 12 May 2016
Succeeded byLaima Liucija Andrikienė
ConstituencyLithuania
Personal details
Born (1982-01-07) 7 January 1982
Vilnius, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union
Political partyHomeland Union
SpouseAustėja Landsbergienė
Alma materVilnius University

On 11 December 2020, he was approved to be the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Šimonytė Cabinet.[4] Landsbergis handed in his resignation on 10 December 2021[5] but it was not accepted by the prime minister.

Early life and education

Gabrielus Landsbergis was born in Vilnius, the 7th of January 1982. He is the grandson of the leader of Lithuania after gaining independence from the Soviet Union, Vytautas Landsbergis. Vytautas Landsbergis was the founder of the Lithuanian independence movement and organisation “Sąjūdis”.

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 and Diplomacy.


Career

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.[6]

Member of the European Parliament (2014–2016)

On 8 January 2014, Landsbergis was selected as leading candidate for the Homeland Union's list in 2014 European Parliament election,[7] 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.[8]

On 25 April 2015, Landsbergis was elected as Chairman of the Homeland Union, defeating former speaker of the Seimas Irena Degutienė in the contest.[9]

When Landsbergis asked to meet with Russian MPs and officials in Moscow amid the Ukraine crisis of 2013-15, his request was denied.[10]

Landsbergis meets with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the U.S. Department of State headquarters in Washington, D.C., on September 15, 2021.

Member of Government (since 2016)

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's 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]

"Belaruskali" payments

On 9 August 2021, United States announced sanctions against Belarus potash exporter "Belaruskali".[16] The United States Office of Foreign Assets Control gave until 8 December 2021 to end all contracts and exporting of "Belaruskali".[17]

On 7 December 2021, one day before the United States sanctions came into action, Prime Minister of Lithuania Ingrida Šimonytė said that the sanctions "have some specifics" and it was not yet clear how they will be implemented in Lithuania.[18] On 8 December 2021, when the sanction had come into effect, Lithuanian Railways company "LTG Cargo" announced that in November they had made a "pre-paid" contract with "Belaruskali" and will still export its one million tons of potash products to Baltic Port of Klaipėda in December until January 2022.[19][20]

On 9 December 2021, Landsbergis said he was ready to resign from Lithuanian Foreign Minister duties. According to Landsbergis he had only known of "Belaruskali" advance payments in September for the month of October, and was not informed about the subsequent payments.[21][22] While Lithuanian Railways stated they had informed the minister. At the same time the Minister of Transport Marius Skuoda also announced he was ready to resign from his duties informing the Prime Minister of Lithuania and President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda.[23] Landsbergis also said that he had been in contact with United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken the week prior before the sanctions came into effect, stating that they had "no effect" and that there are many legal challenges in wanting to stop the export.[24]

On 10 December 2021, Landsbergis sent out a formal letter of resignation to the Prime Minister of Lithuania.[25] On 14 December 2021, the Prime Minister announced she had rejected the letters of resignation from Landsbergis and Skuodis, as well as stating that her government will not step down.[26] The Prime Minister stated she saw no mistakes being made by both Landsbergis and Skuodis, but rather by the company and its director Mantas Bartuška who still continued to sign contracts with "Belaruskali".[27] It was later announced that Mantas Bartuška will step down from his duties in the company.[28]

Personal life

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.

He is married to Austėja Landsbergienė (née Čijauskaitė). The couple has four children.

Honors

References
  1. "Members of the Seimas | Gabriel Landsbergis". www.lrs.lt. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  2. "8th parliamentary term | Gabrielius LANDSBERGIS | MEPs | European Parliament". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  3. Gabrielius Landsbergis. "Gabrielius Landsbergis: Kodėl ir kaip vyksta TS-LKD atsinaujinimas?". 15min.lt. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  4. "President approves makeup of Simonyte Cabinet". DELFI. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  5. "Lithuanian Minister Hands in Resignation Over Belarus Sanctions". Bloomberg. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  6. "Naujienos lrytas.lt". www.lrytas.lt. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  7. "Kaip pianistę keičia V. Landsbergio anūkas". DELFI.
  8. "Members of the European Parliament Intergroup on Children's Rights" (PDF). European Parliament - europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  9. "Naujienos lrytas.lt". www.lrytas.lt. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  10. RETTMAN, ANDREW (23 January 2015). "Russia suspends official EU parliament visits". EUobserver. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  11. "TS-LKD pirmininkas G. Landsbergis į Seimą kandidatuos Kaune". DELFI.
  12. "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.
  13. "Iš konservatorių tvirtovės Kaune liko tik Žaliakalnis | Diena.lt". kauno.diena.lt.
  14. "Turtingiausių politikų penketuke – Matijošaitis, Karbauskis ir Gabrielius Landsbergis". lrt.lt. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  15. "Persigalvojo: paviešinus deklaracijas VMI pradėjo su Landsbergiene siejamos bendrovės tyrimą". lrt.lt. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  16. "US introduces sanctions against Belaruskali, other companies". TASS. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  17. Naprys, Ernestas. "Baltarusiškų trąšų tranzitą per Lietuvą pribaigs JAV sankcijos: iki 120 mln. eurų neteksiantiems "Lietuvos geležinkeliams" reikės pagalbos". DELFI (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  18. "Application of US sanctions on Belarus in Lithuania still unclear, PM says". baltictimes.com. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  19. "Lithuania's railways to continue transporting Belaruskali products in December amid US sanctions". lrt.lt. 8 December 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  20. "Dėl Baltarusijos bendrovės "Belaruskalij" krovinių gabenimo - Naujienos - AB "Lietuvos geležinkeliai"". www.litrail.lt. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  21. "Lithuanian FM ready to step down over Belaruskali sanctions debacle". lrt.lt. 9 December 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  22. "Foreign minister says ready to step down amid Belaruskali scandal". DELFI. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  23. "Dėl atsistatydinimo į premjerę kreipėsi ne tik Landsbergis, bet ir Skuodis". lrt.lt (in Lithuanian). 9 December 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  24. "Užsienio reikalų ministras: JAV apie sankcijų neveiksnumą žino". lrt.lt (in Lithuanian). 9 December 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  25. "Lithuania's foreign minister hands in resignation over Belarusian potash transit". lrt.lt. 10 December 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  26. "Lithuanian foreign, transport ministers keep their posts, LTG chief to step down over Belarusian transit". lrt.lt. 14 December 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  27. "I.Šimonytės sprendimas: Vyriausybė lieka, neatleis nė vieno ministro". 15min.lt (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  28. BNS. "G. Landsbergis: M. Bartuškos pasitraukimas – teisingas sprendimas". vz.lt (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  29. "УКАЗ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА УКРАЇНИ №595/2022". president.gov.ua. 23 August 2022. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
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