Saulius Skvernelis

Saulius Skvernelis (born 23 July 1970) is a Lithuanian politician who served as prime minister of Lithuania between 2016 and 2020. He is currently a member of the Seimas. Previously he served as police commissioner, and was Minister of the Interior from 2014 to 2016. His premiership included creation of Child benefit,[2][3][4] wage and pensions increase and income tax cuts.[5] Skvernelis Cabinet teachers pay reform led to the biggest teachers strike in Lithuania's history.[6][7][8] His Government had also introduced measures that reduced freedom of press. Skvernelis is considered of being pragmatic politician (opportunist by his critics) who doesn't have a clear political ideology.[9][10]

Saulius Skvernelis
Skvernelis in 2016
Chairman of Union of Democrats "For Lithuania"
Assumed office
29 January 2022
Preceded byFirst holder
Leader of the Opposition
In office
25 March 2021 – 14 September 2021
Preceded byGabrielius Landsbergis (2020)
Succeeded byTBA
16th Prime Minister of Lithuania
In office
13 December 2016 – 11 December 2020
PresidentDalia Grybauskaitė
Gitanas Nausėda
Preceded byAlgirdas Butkevičius
Succeeded byIngrida Šimonytė
Member of the Seimas
Assumed office
13 November 2020
ConstituencyMulti-member
In office
14 November 2016 – 12 November 2020
Preceded byLinas Balsys
Succeeded byRadvilė Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė
ConstituencyKaroliniškės
Minister of the Interior
In office
11 November 2014 – 13 April 2016
Prime MinisterAlgirdas Butkevičius
Preceded byDailis Alfonsas Barakauskas
Succeeded byTomas Žilinskas
Personal details
Born (1970-07-23) 23 July 1970[1]
Kaunas, Lithuania
Political partyUnion of Democrats "For Lithuania" (2022–present)
Other political
affiliations		Farmers and Greens Union (2016–2021)
Independent (2021–2022)
SpouseSilvija Skvernelė
Children2
EducationVilnius Gediminas Technical University

Education and work

Born in Kaunas, Skvernelis graduated from the Vilnius Technical University in 1994 and started working at the Lithuania Police Academy.

In 1998, Skvernelis started his career in the Lithuanian law enforcement system, working as a traffic police inspector in Trakai District Municipality. Gradually rising through the ranks, he became the general commissioner of the Lithuanian police on 7 March 2011.[11]

General Commissioner

On 25 February 2011, Skvernelis was assigned as the General Commissioner of Police of Lithuania.[12] He was heavily criticised in 2012, while implementing court ruling, police transferred a girl back to the custody of her biological mother with the help of 240 police officers.[13] Earlier the girl had been testifying against the mother in a pedophilia case, which created big tensions in the society.[14]

Political career

On 5 November 2014, President Dalia Grybauskaitė appointed Skvernelis as Minister of the Interior, with the Seimas confirming the appointment on 11 November. Skvernelis replaced Dailis Alfonsas Barakauskas in the role.[11] He was nominated for the position by Order and Justice, which was part of the ruling coalition, despite not being a member of the party.

During 2015 and 2016, Skvernelis became one of the most popular politicians in Lithuania.[15] In March 2016, Skvernelis announced he would participate in the October 2016 elections to the Seimas on the electoral list of Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union, a party with only one seat in the outgoing parliament.[16][17][18][19] As a result, he was forced to resign as the Minister of the Interior, to be replaced by Tomas Žilinskas.[20]

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 the 2016 election. The party won 22.45% of votes in the nationwide constituency (finishing close second to the Homeland Union), but finished with 54 of the 141 seats in the Seimas, thanks to solid performances in single-member constituencies. Skvernelis was elected to the Seimas in the single-member constituency of Karoliniškės in Vilnius.[21]

In the subsequent coalition negotiations between Farmers and Greens and the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania, it was agreed that Skvernelis would become the Prime Minister of Lithuania.[22] He was appointed as Prime Minister by President Dalia Grybauskaitė on 22 November 2016, having been confirmed by the Seimas,[23] and assumed the office on 13 December 2016, when the Seimas approved the program of the Skvernelis Cabinet.

The coalition government between the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union and the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania collapsed in autumn of 2017, reducing the Skvernelis government to a minority, but some Social Democrat Seimas members disagreed with the decision to leave the coalition and allied with Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union. Later, the Lithuanian Social Democratic Labour Party was formed.

On 14 February 2018, appearing at an LGBT rally in Vilnius, Skvernelis called on the Seimas to recognise same-sex partnerships.[24]

On 17 January 2019, Skvernelis announced his candididacy for the presidency.[25] In the first round of the presidential election he came third. After his poor showing Skvernelis announced that he would resign from position of Prime Minister, but later retracted his remarks.

Skvernelis remained the Prime Minister until the 2020 election, when the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens-led coalition lost to the Homeland Union.

In March 2021 the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union and the Labour 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 political group in Seimas and formed political group Democrats "For Lithuania".[26]

On 29 January 2022 he has formed his own party Union of Democrats "For Lithuania" and was elected its first chairman.[27]

Honours

Foreign honours

References
  1. "Prime Minister: Mr. Saulius Skvernelis". ministraspirmininkas.lrv.lt (in Lithuanian). Government of the Republic of Lithuania. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  2. "Sauliaus Skvernelis pirmiausia griebsis darbo, kuris atsilieps daugeliui".
  3. "S. Skvernelis: Mūsų prioritetas – šeimos puoselėjimas".
  4. "Nuo kitų metų "vaiko pinigai" bus mokami visiems".
  5. "Slėptos reformos: Atlyginimai ir pensijos augs dešimtimis eurų, keičiasi antroji pensijų pakopa".
  6. "2018-ųjų pabaigoje streikavo beveik 3,7 tūkst. Mokytojų".
  7. "15min paaiškina: Kodėl streikuoja mokytojai ir ko jie reikalauja?".
  8. "Smūgis mokytojų protestą nuvertinusiam premjerui: Streikuos ir jo mokykla".
  9. "Kas jis, Saulius Skvernelis? Komentuoja M. Antonovič, K. Girnius, M. Jastramskis [Alfa.lt]".
  10. "Press freedom in danger in Lithuania?".
  11. "Seime prisiekė vidaus reikalų ministras S. Skvernelis". Delfi.lt. ELTA. 11 November 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
  12. "S.Skvernelis: policija turės imuniteto tarnybą ir kontrolinį būrį". DELFI.
  13. Jackevičius, Mindaugas. "Garliavos drama: mergaitė perduota motinai L.Stankūnaitei, aistros verda". DELFI.
  14. "Lietuvai gresia pedofilijos skandalas". DELFI.
  15. "Saulius Skvernelis – populiariausias politikas, jis lenkia prezidentę ir premjerą". ve.lt. BNS. 30 January 2016. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
  16. "Vidaus reikalų ministras S.Skvernelis nusprendė, su kuria partija eis į Seimo rinkimus". kasvyksta.lt. BNS. 23 March 2016. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
  17. ""Valstiečius" į rinkimus vedęs S. Skvernelis laimėjo sostinės Karoliniškių apygardoje" (in Lithuanian). Delfi.lt. BNS. 23 October 2016. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  18. "S. Skvernelis ves į rinkimus Valstiečių ir žaliųjų sąjungą" (in Lithuanian). Delfi.lt. BNS. 23 March 2016. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  19. "LRS Seimas: Saulius Skvernelis". LRS Seimas. 14 November 2016. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  20. "T. Žilinskas — naujasis vidaus reikalų ministras". Delfi.lt. BNS. 13 April 2016. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
  21. ""Valstiečius" į rinkimus vedęs S. Skvernelis laimėjo sostinės Karoliniškių apygardoje". sekunde.lt. BNS. 23 October 2016. Archived from the original on 9 November 2016. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
  22. Samoškaitė, Eglė (9 November 2016). "Daliai socialdemokratų piktinantis R. Karbauskis ir A. Butkevičius pasirašė koalicijos susitarimą" [With some Social Democrats protesting, R. Karbauskis and A. Butkevičius have signed the coalition agreement] (in Lithuanian). Delfi.lt. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
  23. Sytas, Andrius (22 November 2016). "Defense hawk Skvernelis to be new Lithuanian prime minister". Reuters. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  24. Bellamy-Walker, Tat (15 February 2018). "Lithuanian Prime Minister Wants Same-Sex Partnerships Law" – via www.thedailybeast.com.
  25. "Patvirtino: S. Skvernelis dalyvaus prezidento rinkimuose | KaunoDiena.lt".
  26. "Kuriama Demokratų sąjunga "Vardan Lietuvos" jau turi daugiau kaip 2000 steigėjų".
  27. "Demokratų partijos "Vardan Lietuvos" pirmininku išrinktas Skvernelis: nesame, kaip kažkas bandė įvardyti, katės maiše". 29 January 2022.
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