Algirdas Butkevičius

Algirdas Butkevičius (2013)

Algirdas Butkevičius (born November 19, 1958 in Paežeriai near Šeduva , Radviliškis district municipality ) is a Lithuanian politician and was the country's Prime Minister from December 2012 to December 13, 2016 . He was chairman of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) from March 7, 2009 to April 22, 2017 and was a candidate for that party in the presidential election in May 2009.

Studies and professional career

After graduating from high school in 1977 at the middle school Šeduva at Radviliškis studied Butkevičius the Institute of Civil Engineering in Vilnius as an industrial engineer for the building industry . After graduating in 1984, he was employed in the district of Vilkaviškis and worked as a construction manager and city architect until the end of the Soviet Union in 1990 . Until 1995 he worked in a leading position in the district administration, then, until his election to parliament , another year as sales manager at the construction company "AB Vilkasta", the successor company to the former state construction company in the Vilkaviškis district.

In June 2008 he defended his doctoral thesis in social sciences on the topic of a more effective and transparent distribution of state tax revenues at Vilnius University .

Political career since 1990

With the end of the Soviet Union , Butkevičius' political career began when he was elected to the district council of Vilkaviškis. In 1991 he joined the re-established LSDP after having been a member of the Communist Party for a short time in the Soviet Union (1985–1988).

From 1991 to 1995 he was the deputy mayor of the Vilkaviškis district municipality . From 1995 he was on the party council , from 1997 to 1999 and again since 2001 he was on the party executive committee of the LSDP, which has largely determined political fortunes in Lithuania since the union with the successor party of the Communist Party of Lithuania , the Democratic Labor Party of Lithuania , until the parliamentary elections in 2016 . On March 7, 2009, Algirdas Butkevičius was elected at the party congress as the new party chairman to succeed the former Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas , who was no longer running. Butkevičius received 329 votes, up from 242 votes for ex-Prime Minister Brazauskas ' favorite , Zigmantas Balčytis , and 26 for former party leader Vytenis Andriukaitis . In April 2017, Butkevičius was replaced in office by Gintautas Paluckas .

Butkevičius was Finance Minister in the Brazauskas II cabinet (December 2004 to May 2005) and Minister of Transport in the Kirkilas cabinet (July 2006 to November 2008) . His early resignation as finance minister took place in the dispute in the government coalition at the time over plans for tax reform; Butkevičius himself has indicated that it was more likely to have been to force his resignation. As a result, he also lost his post as one of the seven deputy party leaders in May 2005.

Since 1996 Butkevičius has been a member of the Lithuanian Parliament for the LSDP without interruption . He was also an opposition leader .

From December 2012 to December 2016 he was the head of the Lithuanian government ( Butkevičius cabinet ). In the parliamentary elections on October 23, 2016 , the LSDP lost over half of its MPs and became only the third strongest force.

Shortly after resigning from the party leadership in 2017, he left the LSDP after a dispute over whether the party remained in government . Instead, he became a member of the newly formed Social Democratic Labor Party of Lithuania (LSDDP) and one of its deputy group leaders in the Seimas.

Private

Algirdas Butkevičius with his wife Janina and daughter Indrė, 2009

Algirdas Butkevičius is married to Janina and had two children, daughter Indrė and son Martynas. The latter died on March 25, 2008 at the age of 25, together with his girlfriend Marta Andriuškevič, in a traffic accident in Vilnius .

literature

• Algirdas Butkevičius , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 09/2013 from February 26, 2013, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)

Web links

Commons : Algirdas Butkevičius  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ Election of A. Butkevičius as the new party chairman, report on delfi.lt, March 7, 2009 (lit.)
2. ↑ It was about the introduction of a "social tax" on companies, which should be measured by turnover, against which Butkevičius had raised legal concerns.
3. ↑ Finance Minister Butkevičius declares his resignation in the dispute over the planned tax reform, message on delfi.lt, 3 May 2005 (lit.)
4. ↑ alfa.lt: Son Martynas Butkevičius' fatal traffic accident on Easter Monday 2008 ( Memento from May 23, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) March 25, 2008 (lit.)

predecessor	Office	successor
Andrius Kubilius	Prime Minister of Lithuania December 2012 - December 2016	Saulius Skvernelis