Gintaras Steponavičius (born 23 July 1967 in

Klaipėda Klaipėda (; ; german: Memel; pl, Kłajpeda; russian: Клайпеда; sgs, Klaipieda) is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. The capital of the eponymous county, it is the third largest city and the only major seaport in Lithuania ...

) is a Lithuanian former Liberal politician, retiring from politics in 2020. He was member of the

Seimas The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublikos Seimas), or simply the Seimas (), is the unicameral parliament of Lithuania. The Seimas constitutes the legislative branch of government in Lithuania, enacting laws and amendme ...

and Senior Deputy Chair of the Lithuanian Liberal Movement Party. Steponavičius was the Minister of Education and Science in Kubilius Cabinet.

Biography

After graduation in 1985 from the Antanas Vienuolis School in Vilnius, he graduated in 1992 with a Diploma in Legal Studies at the Law Faculty of

Vilnius University Vilnius University ( lt, Vilniaus universitetas) is a public research university, oldest in the Baltic states and in Northern Europe outside the United Kingdom (or 6th overall following foundations of Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews, Glasgow and ...

. He studied in 1990 in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

, Netherlands and in 1991 at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public research university in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia after Uppsala Unive ...

in Denmark. In 1992 he attended the European Institute of the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...

in the UK, and later the Academy of European Law in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

, Italy, and the Royal

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen in the Netherlands. Founded in 1614, the university is th ...

in the Netherlands. Between 1991–1994 he worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania whilst studying, and from 1994 to 2004 he was a lecturer at the Institute for International Relations and Political Sciences of Vilnius University. Between 1994 and 2000 he was coordinator of Friedrich Naumann Foundation in Lithuania and between 1994 and 1996 was a contributor to the quarterly journal '' East European Constitutional Review'' of the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

and between 1997 and 2000, columnist of the weekly newspaper '' Atgimimas'' and member of the City Council of Vilnius, and chairman of the Liberal Group. Since 2000, Steponavičius has been a member of the Seimas (Deputy Speaker of the Seimas from 2000 to 2004 and Vice Chairman of the Seimas from 2005 to 2008). Between 2004 and 2006 he was a Member of the Parliamentary Committee on Education, Science and Culture and between 2006 and 2008 he was a Member of the Committee of Legal Affairs. Since 10 December 2008 he has been Minister of Education in the 15th and in the 16th Government of Lithuania.

Bribery, money laundering charges

In 2016, Steponavičius has been involved in the 2016 Lithuanian Liberal Movement's bribery scandal involving MG Baltic, a business conglomerate with perceived Russian connections, and was separately suspected of money laundering through his charity organization "Laisvės studijų centras" ("Centre for Freedom Studies") as well as another personal charity.

Lithuania-Taiwan Forum

Since March 2021 Steponavičius has been chairing Lithuania-Taiwan Forum, an NGO supporting Taiwan independence.

Mantas Adomėnas Mantas Adomėnas (born 1 October 1972) is a Lithuanian classicist and politician. He was first elected to the Seimas in 2008 and served until 2020. He earned a Ph.D. degree in classics from the University of Cambridge. His best known work is proba ...

, a conservative politician accused of

influence peddling Influence peddling is the practice of using one's influence in government or connections with authorities to obtain favours or preferential treatment for another, usually in return for payment. It is also called traffic of influence or trading i ...

on behalf of the same conglomerate, is also part of the initiative.

Personal life

Steponavičius is married to Vaidė, his third wife, and has a son (Mykolas) from his first marriage and a daughter (Urtė) from his second marriage.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steponavicius, Gintaras Lithuanian jurists Politicians from Vilnius Liberal Movement (Lithuania) politicians Vilnius University alumni Academic staff of Vilnius University Members of the Seimas University of Copenhagen alumni 1967 births Living people People from Klaipėda Ministers of Education and Science of Lithuania 21st-century Lithuanian politicians