Gitanas Nausėda

Gitanas Nausėda (born 19 May 1964) is a Lithuanian economist, politician and banker, having worked as the Director of Monetary Policy at the Bank of Lithuania from 1996 until 2000, and chief economist to the chairman of SEB bankas from 2008 until 2018. Nausėda is serving as the current President of Lithuania.

His Excellency

Gitanas Nausėda

Doctor of Economics
9th President of Lithuania
Assumed office
12 July 2019
Prime MinisterSaulius Skvernelis
Preceded byDalia Grybauskaitė
Personal details
Born (1964-05-19) 19 May 1964
Klaipėda, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union
Political partyIndependent
Spouse(s)Diana Nausėdienė
ChildrenGedailė Nausėdaitė, Ugnė Nausėdaitė
Alma materVilnius University (1987)
ProfessionEconomist, Politician
Net worthEUR 1.04 million[1]
Signature

Early life and education

From 1982 to 1987 he studied in Vilnius University, Faculty of Industrial Economics and from 1987 to 1989 in the Faculty of Economics.[2] From 1990 to 1992 he did a practice at the University of Mannheim in Germany under the DAAD scholarship. He defended his PhD thesis "Income Policy Under Inflation and Stagflation" in 1993.[3] Since 2009 he is an associate professor at Vilnius University Business School.[4]

Professional and political career

Having completed his studies, from 1992 to 1993 he worked for the Research Institute for Economics and Privatization. From 1993 to 1994 he worked for the Lithuanian Competition Council as a head of the Financial Markets Department. From 1994 to 2000 he worked at the Bank of Lithuania, initially in the department regulating the commercial banks and later as a director of the Monetary Policy Department. From 2000 to 2008 he was a chief economist and adviser to the chairman of AB Vilniaus Bankas. From 2008 to 2018 he was the financial analyst as well as chief adviser and later the chief economist for the SEB bankas president.[5]

In 2004, he supported the election campaign of the former Lithuanian president Valdas Adamkus.

Presidency (2019–present)

On 17 September 2018, Nausėda announced his candidacy for the 2019 Lithuanian presidential election, which he won in the second round on 26 May 2019.[6] He was officially inaugurated on 12 July.[7] Nausėda presented acting Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis's candidacy to continue his duties on 18 July.[8] By the time he had spent a month in office, Nausėda was considered to be the most trusted politician in Lithuania according to polls conducted by the Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT).[9]

Foreign policy

Russia

During a meeting in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in August, Nausėda urged her to maintain sanctions against Russia.[10] In an interview with LRT on 14 August, he reiterated past positions that a potential meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin would be "pointless" due to the fact that Lithuania sees "the true danger" and "risks" of being on the border with Russia.[11]

Poland

Nausėda has made multiple efforts to engage in better relations with Poland, being seen as a personal ally of the Polish leadership.[12] On 16 July, four days after his inauguration, he visited Warsaw to meet with President Andrzej Duda in his first foreign visit as President.[13] During the visit, there were calls for him to establish a more personal relationship with the country.[14] He also rejected any attempt by European Union leaders to sanction Poland for its actions in relation to the Supreme Court of Poland and the rest of the country's judiciary.[15] On 22 November, Nausėda and Duda, as well as the First Lady of Poland Agata Kornhauser-Duda participated in the state funeral of commanders and participants in the 1863–1864 uprising against Tsarist rule in Vilnius.[16] During his visit to Vilnius, Duda highlighted the Central European nations' unity importance for their independence.[17] In January 2020, Nausėda joined Duda in pulling out of 5th World Holocaust Forum, who criticized the event for giving the speaking slot to Russian president Putin, who has himself criticized Poland's WWII history by engaging in a historical revisionist campaign.[18]

Baltic

Post-Soviet region

In November 2019, he referred to the Steinmeier formula suggested by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a solution to the Russo-Ukrainian War as being "more profitable for Russia than Ukraine".[19] In May 2020, during a conference call with Armenian Premier Nikol Pashinyan, he called on Armenia to share its experience with the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant to Belarus over concerns over the Astravets Nuclear Power Plant.[20]

In April 2020, President Nausėda and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko had the first tete-a-tete conversation in 10 years.[21] Following the Lukashenko government's crackdown on protesters after the disputed 2020 Belarusian Presidential elections (which were widely regarded as unfree and unfair)[22] and the resulting protests, Belarusian opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya fled to Lithuania.[23] Nausėda's leadership during the crisis has been noted for being one that out sized Lithuania's role among European Union nations.[24] On 12 August, he ordered that Lithuania open its borders to all Belarusians for humanitarian purposes.[25] That day, he also presented a plan on the settlement of crisis, being supported by Latvia and Poland, which consisted of three points that included a call for the creation of a national council from the Belarusian Government and civilian society. In an interview with Sky News on 13 August, he declared Lukashenko as "no longer the legitimate leader".[26]

Countries visited by Nauseda as of 8 November 2019.

International trips as President
DateCountryCityReason
16 July 2019 PolandWarsawTalks with President Andrzej Duda[13]
23 July 2019 LatviaRigaTalks with President Egils Levits[27]
14–15 August 2019 GermanyBerlinTalks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel[28]
15 August 2019 GermanyBerlinTalks with Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier[29]
20 August 2019 EstoniaTallinnTalks with President Kersti Kaljulaid[30]
1 September 2019 PolandWarsaw80th anniversary of the September campaign
4–5 September 2019 EUBrusselsEuropean Conference
22–26 September 2019 United NationsNew York CityUnited Nations General Assembly[31]
17–18 October 2019 EUBrusselsEuropean Conference
21–24 October 2019 JapanTokyoEnthronement of Japanese Emperor Naruhito [32]
5 November 2019 FinlandHelsinkiTalks with President Sauli Niinistö
7 November 2019  VaticanVatican CityTalks with Pope Francis
7–8 November 2019 ItalyRomeTalks with Italian leaders
3–4 December 2019 United KingdomLondonSee 2019 London summit
20 January 2020  SwitzerlandDavosSee World Economic Forum

Nausėda has welcomed many foreign leaders and dignitaries to Lithuania since taking office, including Latvian President Egils Levits, Polish President Andrzej Duda, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Canadian Governor-General Julie Payette.

Personal life

Nausėda's father, Antanas Nausėda (1929–), is a survivor of Stutthof concentration camp. His mother Stase Nausedene (1932-2014) was a physics and mathematics teacher from the village of Lazdininkai. His sister Viliya (born 1959) is an economist. In 1990, he married Diana Nausėdienė. They have two daughters.[33] In addition to his native Lithuanian, Gitanas Nausėda speaks English, German and Russian.[34] Since 1997 he has been collecting a collection of antique books.[35]

Honours

National honour

Honorary doctorates
  •  Japan: Gifu University (24 October 2019)

References
  1. "G.Nausėdos turtas – namas nevertas nė 700 tūkst. eurų, knygų kolekcijos deklaruoti nepavyko". 15min.lt.
  2. "Download Limit Exceeded". citeseerx.ist.psu.edu.
  3. "LIETUVOS MOKSLO POTENCIALAS". mokslas.mii.lt.
  4. "Gitanas Nausėda – Biografija". Nauseda 2019. Archived from the original on 1 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  5. "Bloomberg Are you a robot?". Bloomberg L.P.
  6. Lithuanian opposition party names favorites for presidential election Xinhua News Agency, 18 September 2018.
  7. "Gitanas Nauseda to be inaugurated as next president of Lithuania". 11 July 2019.
  8. "Lithuania's acting PM Skvernelis offered to continue his duties by new president – Xinhua | English.news.cn". Xinhua News Agency.
  9. "President Gitanas Nausėda considered the most popular politician in Lithuania". Baltic News Network – News from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia. 12 August 2019.
  10. "Lithuania's President calls on German Chancellor to maintain sanctions against Russia – news world | UNIAN". unian.info.
  11. "Lithuania's president says he sees no reason to meet with Putin". Baltic News Network – News from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia. 14 August 2019.
  12. "Rzeczpospolita editor: Polish president sees Nauseda as his personal ally". DELFI. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  13. G.Nausėda Varšuvoje pamatė visišką sutarimą su Lenkija, ES sankcijoms kaimynei nepritartų, 15min.lt, 16 July 2019
  14. "Nausėda, visiting Poland, urged to get more personal than Grybauskaitė". Baltic News Network – News from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia. 16 July 2019.
  15. https://beta.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/new-lithuanian-president-against-eu-sanctions-for-poland/2019/07/16/236c995e-a7d1-11e9-8733-48c87235f396_story.html?outputType=amp
  16. "Three-state celebration: Vilnius hosts state funeral for commanders of 1863–1864 uprising". DELFI. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  17. "Duda in Vilnius: Central European nations' unity is necessary foundation of their freedom". DELFI. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  18. Halbfinger, David M.; Kershner, Isabel (22 January 2020). "Live Updates: World Leaders Gather in Israel, 75 Years After Holocaust". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  19. "New Ukraine peace plan is better for Moscow than Kyiv, Lithuanian president says". lrt.lt. 5 November 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  20. "The President encouraged Armenia to share its nuclear safety experience with Belarus". www.lrp.lt. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  21. https://www.lrp.lt/en/media-center/news/33998
  22. Haboush, Joseph (10 August 2020). "Belarus elections deemed unfair by US, Germany and others; candidate missing". Al Arabiya English. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  23. "Belarusian opposition leader Tikhanouskaya in Lithuania says FM". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  24. News, A. B. C. "Tiny Lithuania has outsized role as EU faces Belarus crisis". ABC News. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  25. "Lithuania allows unrestricted entry to Belarusians 'for humanitarian purposes'". www.baltictimes.com. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  26. "Embattled Belarus president is no longer a legitimate leader, says Lithuanian counterpart". Sky News. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  27. Prezidentas vyksta į Latviją, LR Prezidento kanceliarija, 22 July 2019
  28. Prezidentas ir pirmoji ponia susitiks su Vokietijos vadovais, LR Prezidento kanceliarija, 13 August 2019
  29. https://www.bundespraesident.de/SharedDocs/Termine/DE/Frank-Walter-Steinmeier/2019/08/190815-Litauen-Gespraech.html
  30. Lietuvos ir Estijos Prezidentų susitikime – dėmesys energetiniam saugumui Baltijos regione, LR Prezidento kanceliarija, 20 August 2019
  31. Vizitas JT Generalinėje Asamblėjoje: dėmesys gerovės valstybei ir regiono saugumui, LR Prezidento kanceliarija, 20 September 2019
  32. Prezidentas vyks į Japonijos Imperatoriaus inauguracijos ceremoniją, LR Prezidento kanceliarija, 18 October 2019
  33. D. Nausėdienė: Gitanas man pateikė viliojantį pasiūlymą, kurio negalėjau atsisakyti Delfi, 31 October 2015
  34. G.Nausėdos kelias į ekonomiką aplaistytas ašaromis Delfi, 24 February 2010
  35. "Bokstas - 1982". www.bokstas.net. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
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