Algirdas Butkevičius

Algirdas Butkevičius
12th Prime Minister of Lithuania
Incumbent
Assumed office 13 December 2012
President	Dalia Grybauskaitė
Preceded by	Andrius Kubilius
Leader of the Social Democratic Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 March 2009
Preceded by	Gediminas Kirkilas
Minister of Finance
In office 1 May 2004 – 14 May 2005
Prime Minister	Algirdas Brazauskas
Preceded by	Dalia Grybauskaitė
Succeeded by	Zigmantas Balčytis
Personal details
Born	19 November 1958 Paežeriai, Lithuanian SSR, USSR (now Lithuania)
Political party	Social Democratic Party

Algirdas Butkevičius (born 19 November 1958) is Prime Minister of Lithuania since December 2012. He was Minister of Finance from 2004 to 2005 and Minister of Transport and Communications from 2006 to 2008. He has led the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania since 2009.

Political career

Butkevičius was born at Paežeriai village in Radviliškis district municipality. Since 1992 he is member of the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania (SDPL). He was Chairman of Vilkaviškis Department of the SDPL in 1995–1997, Deputy Chairman of the SDPL in 1999–2005 (re-elected in 2001), and Chairman of the SDPL since 2009.^[1]

In 1996 and 2000, he was elected to the Seimas (parliament). From 2004 to 2005 he served as Minister of Finance and from 2006 to 2008 as Minister of Transport and Communications.^[2]

Butkevičius was the SDPL candidate in the 2009 presidential election, placing second with 11.83% of the votes.^[3] As of 2010, he is the chairman of the SDPL.^[4]

During the 2012 parliamentary election, Butkevičius was among the few candidates who were elected in the first round of the popular vote.

On 22 November 2012 he was elected by the Seimas to be Prime Minister-designate. He was appointed as Prime Minister by presidential decree on 7 December 2012^[1] and his cabinet was sworn on 13 December, following the approval of the governmental program by Parliament.^[5]

Education and career timeline

• 1977 graduation from Šeduva Secondary School, district of Radviliškis.
• 1977-1979 Military service in Signals-Communications Troops of the Soviet Army, rank Junior Sergeant.
• 1984 Diploma of Engineering Economist, Faculty of Economics, Vilnius Civil Engineering Institute (currently Vilnius Gediminas Technical University)
• 1990–1991 Diploma of Technical Manager, Lithuanian Management Academy
• 1995 Master's Degree in Management, Kaunas University of Technology
• 1994 Traineeship, Management Academy in Würzburg, Germany. 1998, 1999, 2001 – traineeships in the United States of America and Denmark.
• 2008 Doctor's Degree in Economics
• 1982–1985 Industrial Association “Žemūktechnika”, Vilkaviškis district
• 1985–1990 Architect, Executive Committee of Vilkaviškis district; Inspector, State Construction and Architecture Unit, Vilkaviškis district
• 1991–1995 Deputy Governor, Vilkaviškis district
• 1995–1996 Director of Market Research and Marketing, Joint Stock Company AB Vilkauta
• 1996–2008 Member of the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th Seimas, elected in Vilkaviškis electoral constituency No 68 as candidate of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party. He has served in the following committees: Committee on Budget and Finance (Chairman in 2001–2004), Committee on European Affairs (2005–2006) and Committee on Economics (2006–2008)
• 2004–2005 Minister of Finance, 12th and 13th Governments of the Republic of Lithuania
• 2006–2008 Minister of Transport and Communications, 14th Government of the Republic of Lithuania
• 1990–1997 and 2000–2002 Member of the Municipal Council of Vilkaviškis district
• 1995–1997 Member of the Municipal Board of Vilkaviškis district
• 7 December 2012 appointed Prime Minister by Presidential Decree

Personal

In addition to his native Lithuanian, he speaks fluent Russian and some English. His wife is Janina, and they have one daughter, Indrė.^[1]

References

1. Prime Minister biography at the government website (retrieved 13 December 2012)
2. "Algirdas Butkevicius". PES. Retrieved 4 July 2010.
3. "The Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Lithuania". The Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Lithuania. Retrieved 3 July 2010.
4. "Lithuanians called to the polls to elect new president". Top News. Retrieved 4 July 2010.
5. Rulers.org

External links

• Algirdas Butkevicius: euro adoption in Lithuania to take place in 2013–2014 (The Baltic Course)