Saulius Skvernelis | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Skvernelis in 2017 | |
| Speaker of the Seimas | |
| In office 14 November 2024 – 10 September 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen |
| Succeeded by | Juozas Olekas |
| Chairman ofUnion of Democrats "For Lithuania" | |
| Assumed office 29 January 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| 16thPrime Minister of Lithuania | |
| In office 13 December 2016 – 11 December 2020 | |
| President | Dalia Grybauskaitė Gitanas Nausėda |
| Preceded by | Algirdas Butkevičius |
| Succeeded by | Ingrida Šimonytė |
| Member of the Seimas | |
| Assumed office 13 November 2020 | |
| Constituency | Multi-member |
| In office 14 November 2016 – 12 November 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Linas Balsys |
| Succeeded by | Radvilė Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė |
| Constituency | Karoliniškės |
| Minister of the Interior | |
| In office 11 November 2014 – 13 April 2016 | |
| Prime Minister | Algirdas Butkevičius |
| Preceded by | Dailis Alfonsas Barakauskas |
| Succeeded by | Tomas Žilinskas |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1970-07-23)23 July 1970 (age 55)[1] Kaunas, Lithuania |
| Political party | DSVL (2022–present) |
| Other political affiliations | Order and Justice (2014–2016) LVŽS (2016–2022) |
| Spouse | Silvija Skvernelė |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | Vilnius Gediminas Technical University |
Saulius Skvernelis (born 23 July 1970) is aLithuanian politician who served asprime minister of Lithuania between 2016 and 2020. He had previously served aspolice commissioner, and wasMinister of the Interior from 2014 to 2016. Though he was anindependent politician, he was backed by theLithuanian Farmers and Greens Union and was a member of its parliamentary group until 2022, as a result of which he became the firsthead of government in European history primarily backed by agreen party (agreen conservative party).
In 2022, he formed his own political party, theUnion of Democrats "For Lithuania", and he is currently a member of theSeimas, as well as his party's chairman.
He is theSpeaker of the Seimas from 14 November 2024.
Born inKaunas, Skvernelis graduated from theVilnius Technical University in 1994 and started working at theLithuania Police Academy.[citation needed]
In 1998, Skvernelis started his career in the Lithuanian law enforcement system, working as a traffic police inspector inTrakai District Municipality. Gradually rising through the ranks, he was appointed General Commissioner of Police of Lithuania on 7 March 2011.[2]
In this position, he played a role in theCase of Drąsius Kedys. As General Commissioner, he approved the transfer of Kedys' daughter to her biological mother on 17 May 2012, in a police raid in which 240 police officers were involved and force was reportedly used against protestors attempting to stop the transfer.[3] Skvernelis was reportedly threatened with dismissal by members of the incumbent government, but went ahead with the operation regardless.[4]
Dailis Alfonsas Barakauskas [lt], delegated by theOrder and Justice party asMinister of the Interior, became complicit in a corruption scandal in late 2014 and chose to resign.[5] Order and Justice tapped Skvernelis as his replacement, despite him not being a member of the party, and he accepted. On 5 November 2014, PresidentDalia Grybauskaitė appointed Skvernelis as Minister of the Interior, with the Seimas confirming the appointment on 11 November.[2]
From the beginning of his term as Minister, Skvernelis enjoyed high approval ratings.[6] However, he nearly resigned on 20 November 2015 after an incident in Vilnius, in which Igor Molotkov, a Russian-speaking inhabitant of Vilnius arrested by Lithuanian police, escaped out of apolice vehicle with a stolenAK-47 and roamed the city for several hours until he was detained again.[7] An action among members of the Seimas in support of him remaining in the post, initiated byPetras Gražulis, gathered the signatures of a majority of the parliament.[8]Prime MinisterAlgirdas Butkevičius refused his resignation on 30 November.[9]
During the2015 European migrant crisis, Skvernelis criticised anti-migrant rhetoric,[10] but also expressed scepticism towards theEuropean Union's policy of migrant quotas.[11] He conflicted with Speaker of the SeimasLoreta Graužinienė and President Grybauskaitė during his term.
By 2016, Skvernelis had become one of the most popular politicians in Lithuania.[12] As a result, he was approached by several political parties, including theLiberal Movement, theSocial Democratic Party of Lithuania andOrder and Justice, to join their party or participate in their electoral list in the2016 parliamentary election.[13] However, he refused their offers and announced he would participate in the electoral list of theLithuanian Farmers and Greens Union, a party with only one seat in the outgoing parliament, in March 2016.[14][15][16][17] As the Farmers and Greens were a part of the opposition, he was forced to resign as Minister of the Interior and was replaced byTomas Žilinskas [lt].[18]
Although not a member of the party, Skvernelis headed the electoral list of the Farmers and Greens, leading them to a surprisingly large victory in the2016 election. The party won 22.45% of votes in the nationwide constituency (finishing close second to theHomeland Union), but finished with 54 of the 141 seats in the Seimas, thanks to strong performances in single-member constituencies. Skvernelis was elected to the Seimas in the single-member constituency ofKaroliniškės inVilnius.[19]
As the Farmers and Greens had never held the plurality of seats, a coalition with either the Homeland Union or the Social Democrats was considered. After agrand coalition was dismissed by party leaders, the right wing of the Homeland Union, represented byŽygimantas Pavilionis,Audronius Ažubalis,Paulius Saudargas,Agnė Bilotaitė and others, pressuredGabrielius Landsbergis to form a coalition with the party.[20] However, the Farmers and Greens chose to form a coalition with the Social Democrats instead. In the subsequent coalition negotiations, it was agreed that Skvernelis would become theprime minister of Lithuania.[21] He was appointed as prime minister by PresidentDalia Grybauskaitė on 22 November 2016, having been confirmed by the Seimas,[22] and assumed the office on 13 December 2016, when the Seimas approved the program of theSkvernelis Cabinet.
.jpg)
His premiership included creation of Child benefit,[23][24][25] wage and pensions increase and income tax cuts.[26] The Skvernelis Cabinet teacher pay reform led to the biggest teacher strike in Lithuania's history.[27][28][29] His Government had also introduced measures that reduced freedom of the press. Skvernelis is considered a pragmatic politician (opportunist by his critics) who doesn't have a clear political ideology.[30][31]
On 14 February 2018, appearing at an LGBT rally in Vilnius, Skvernelis called on the Seimas to recognise same-sex partnerships.[32]
AsAlgirdas Butkevičius chose to resign as chairman of the Social Democrats due to poor election results, a leadership election was held on 22 April 2017, and was won byGintautas Paluckas, who questioned the benefit of the coalition agreement with the Farmers and Greens.[33] Against the wishes of its parliamentary group, the party leadership voted to terminate the coalition agreement,[34] but only five of the party's 17 members followed the party's decision. The remaining parliamentarians established theSocial Democratic Labour Party in late 2017.[35] A new coalition agreement was signed, but the cabinet was only left with 69 seats of 141 and became aminority government.
The cabinet regained its majority in 2019 - according to theConstitution of Lithuania, the incumbent government must be reaffirmed after apresidential election, and Skvernelis thus held negotiations with minor parties in the Seimas after the2019 Lithuanian presidential election. TheElectoral Action of Poles in Lithuania and the parliamentary group "For the Welfare of Lithuania" (Lithuanian:Frakcija „Lietuvos gerovei“), made up of former members of theOrder and Justice party, joined the coalition.[36]
However, Skvernelis only retained a majority for four months - on 13 January 2020, the "For the Welfare of Lithuania" parliamentary group disbanded, as it lost the minimum required number of seven members to continue existing. The defector,Kęstutis Bartkevičius [lt], reportedly left due to being passed over for a minister position.[37]
On 7 May 2020, theChristian Union (consisting of 2 former members of the Homeland Union) expressed their support to the government.[38] The Constitution requires the coalition programme to be reapproved by the Seimas after the inclusion of a new coalition member, thus theConstitutional Court of Lithuania ruled that this action violated the Constitution. However, the ruling would not be officially announced until 23 December in order to allow the government to finish serving its term.[39]
On 17 January 2019, Skvernelis announced his candidacy for thepresidency.[40] In the first round of thepresidential election he came third. After his poor showing Skvernelis announced that he would resign from position of prime minister, but later retracted his remarks.
In March 2021 the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union and theLabour Party signed a coalition agreement that gave the needed number of members of Seimas for the parties to appoint the opposition leader to the Seimas' Board. On 25 March 2021 Skvernelis was appointed to this position. He remained in this position until mid-September 2021.
In late 2021, Skvernelis left the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union (LVŽS) political group in Seimas and formed the political group Democrats "For Lithuania".[41]
On 29 January 2022 he formed his own party,Union of Democrats "For Lithuania" (DSVL), and was elected its first chairman.[42]
Prior to the2024 Lithuanian parliamentary election, as the leader of the Union of Democrats "For Lithuania" (DSVL), Skvernelis had stated that he wished to avoid forming a coalition with the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union (LVŽS) to which he had previously belonged. He calledRamūnas Karbauskis, the leader of LVŽS, an "oligarch" and criticized his choice not to run as a candidate in the election.[43]
In the election, Skvernelis led the Union of Democrats to a fourth-place finish, with his party securing 14 out of 141 total seats in theFourteenth Seimas. Skvernelis himself ran in the single-seat constituency ofLazdynai, where he lost in the run-off to then-Defence MinisterLaurynas Kasčiūnas of theHomeland Union.[44] Skvernelis nonetheless secured a seat in the multi-mandate constituency due to his position in the party list.[45]
Following the first round of the election, the victoriousLithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) invited DSVL and LVŽS to start coalition talks.[46] However, numerous disagreements persisted between the LVŽS and DSVL parties, with each proposing various restrictions for a potential coalition, and Karbauskis calling Skvernelis a "traitor" but still expressing some openness to working together.[47] Following the second round of the election, instead of LVŽS, the LSDP and DSVL signed a coalition agreement withDawn of Nemunas. This coalition deal led to international criticism from politicians in the United States, Germany, and Israel due to allegedly antisemitic statements made by the founder of Dawn of Nemunas.[48]
Skvernelis was elected theSpeaker of the Seimas on 14 November 2024, with 107 votes in favour and 19 against.[49]
Poland: Grand Cross of theOrder of Merit of the Republic of Poland (15 July 2019)
Media related toSaulius Skvernelis at Wikimedia Commons| Seimas | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of the Seimas forKaroliniškės 2016–2020 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Minister of the Interior 2014–2016 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Lithuania 2016–2020 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
