Gabrielius Landsbergis

Gabrielius Landsbergis (born 7 January 1982 in Vilnius) is a Lithuanian politician, 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.

Gabrielius Landsbergis MP MEP
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 December 2020
Prime Minister	Ingrida Šimonytė
Preceded by	Linas Linkevičius
Leader of the Opposition
In office 10 March 2020 – 12 November 2020
Preceded by	Julius Sabatauskas
Succeeded by	TBA
Member of Seimas
Incumbent
Assumed office 14 November 2016
Preceded by	Rasa Juknevičienė (Žaliakalnis) Vincė Vaidevutė Margevičienė (Centras)
Constituency	Centras - Žaliakalnis
Chairman of the Homeland Union
Incumbent
Assumed office 25 April 2015
Preceded by	Andrius Kubilius
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(s)	Austėja Landsbergienė (m.2000)
Children	4

On 11 December 2020, he was approved to be the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Šimonytė Cabinet.[3]

Biography

In 2003, Landsbergis graduated from 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. 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 Belgium. Landsbergis returned to Lithuania in 2011 and worked in the Chancellery of the Government of Lithuania.[4]

Member of the European Parliament (2014–2016)

On 8 January, 2014, Landsbergis has been selected as leading candidate for the Homeland Union's list in 2014 European Parliament election.[5]

Landsbergis has been a Member of the European Parliament between 2014 and 2016. He was elected to the European Parliament as the member of the Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats.

Landsbergis served on the Committee on International Trade and on the Subcommittee on Security and Defence. In addition to his committee assignments, he is a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Children’s Rights.[6]

On 25 April 2015, Landsbergis was elected as the Chairman of the Homeland Union, defeating former speaker of the Seimas Irena Degutienė in the contest.[7]

When Landsbergis requested to meet with Russian MPs and officials in Moscow amid the Ukraine crisis, this was denied in early 2015.[8]

Member of Seimas (since 2016)

In November 2015, Landsbergis has been selected to stand in Žaliakalnis single-member constituency to the upcoming parliamentary election.[9] Due to 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 multi-member list instead).[10]

By March 2016, Landsbergis resigned from the European Parliament. In 2016 parliamentary elections, Landsbergis was the only Homeland Union's candidate to win single-member constituency in Kaunas.[11] After these elections, Landsbergis proposed to held leadership election, which he had won.

Family wealth, conflict of interest investigation

Landsbergis ranked among the 5 wealthiest members of the 2016-2020 Seimas primarily due to his wife's chain of private schools and kindergarters which are partly funded from public sources, with estimated wealth of EUR19.9 million.[12] Questions have been raised about suspicious business transactions but the matter did not go to court, although National Tax Inspection did start a formal investigation.[13]

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.

He is married to Austėja Landsbergienė. The couple has four children.

Footnotes

2. "8th parliamentary term | Gabrielius LANDSBERGIS | MEPs | European Parliament". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
3. "President approves makeup of Simonyte Cabinet". DELFI. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
4. "Naujienos lrytas.lt". www.lrytas.lt. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
5. https://www.delfi.lt/news/daily/lithuania/kaip-pianiste-keicia-v-landsbergio-anukas.d?id=63711728
6. Members of the European Parliament Intergroup on Children’s Rights European Parliament.
7. "Naujienos lrytas.lt". www.lrytas.lt. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
8. Dario Sarmadi (January 23, 2015), Russia suspends official EU parliament visits EUobserver.
9. https://m.delfi.lt/delfi/article.php%3fid=69469672&amp=1
10. "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.
11. https://m.diena.lt/naujienos/kaunas/miesto-pulsas/konservatoriu-tvirtoves-kaune-liko-tik-zaliakalnis-778193
12. "Turtingiausių politikų penketuke – Matijošaitis, Karbauskis ir Gabrielius Landsbergis". lrt.lt. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
13. "Persigalvojo: paviešinus deklaracijas VMI pradėjo su Landsbergiene siejamos bendrovės tyrimą". lrt.lt. Retrieved 12 December 2020.

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