Lithuania bids farewell to former prime minister Kazimira Prunskienė

Lithuania is bidding farewell to former prime minister and signatory of the Act of Independence Kazimira Danutė Prunskienė at St John’s Church in Vilnius, LRT reported. She will be buried at Antakalnis Cemetery on Thursday.

Wreaths from public officials are due to be laid on Wednesday afternoon, followed by Mass at 6 p.m.

Albertas Sinevičius, Lithuania’s first minister of industry and trade, said Prunskienė had faced the difficult task of leading the newly restored state. He said ministers from the first government maintained contact with her until her death.

“Imagine: the withdrawal of 30,000 Soviet soldiers, replacing the militia with the police, and an economic blockade. Nobody had to direct us or monitor us; each of us, according to our abilities, tried to persuade others how to resolve one issue or another,” Sinevičius said, recalling the work of the first government.

Česlovas Juršėnas, honorary chairman of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party and a former member of parliament, said Prunskienė’s charisma and language skills had enabled her to negotiate with Western leaders.

“I remember her first and foremost as a very active and serious economics specialist who, even during the Soviet era, sought Lithuania’s economic independence. She then actively joined the entire independence movement and was one of its brightest stars,” Juršėnas said.

“In addition to all her strengths, she was an elegant woman with a beautiful smile, which I call amber-coloured. With it, she conquered the West,” he added.

Prunskienė died on Thursday at the age of 83, according to LRT.

She entered politics through the Lithuanian Reform Movement Sąjūdis after working as an economics lecturer. She graduated from Vilnius University in 1965 and taught there from 1965 to 1986. She also conducted research at universities in Hungary and the Federal Republic of Germany and held senior positions at Lithuanian economic and agricultural institutions.

Prunskienė served as a deputy in the Supreme Council-Reconstituent Seimas from 1990 to 1992 and became Lithuania’s first prime minister in 1990, holding the position until 1991. She later served as agriculture minister.

She was one of the founders of the Women’s Party, which later changed its name and merged with the Peasants’ Party. Ramūnas Karbauskis became its deputy chairman, and the political force eventually became the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union.

In 2004, Prunskienė sought to become Lithuania’s first female president. She reached the second round, receiving 46.66 percent of the vote, but lost to Valdas Adamkus. She also unsuccessfully ran in the 2009 election.

Prunskienė left politics in 2012 after suffering a stroke and undergoing brain surgery. Her health prevented her from returning to public life after rehabilitation, and her family cared for her.