Vilkauskas agrees to give up Culture Committee chair

Social Democrat Kęstutis Vilkauskas has agreed to hand over the chairmanship of the Lithuanian Parliament’s Culture Committee to fellow party member Vaida Aleknavičienė after talks with Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius, LRT reported.

Vilkauskas said he had urged the prime minister to ensure continued attention to culture, including sustainable funding, recognition of Vytautas the Great’s birthplace and the construction of a monument to him.

“This does not really hurt me. What matters most is that processes in the cultural sphere continue and that culture rises higher among the priorities,” Vilkauskas told ELTA.

The decision to replace him as committee chair was previously taken by the presidium of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party. Aleknavičienė is expected to take Vilkauskas’s place on the committee.

The committee held an extraordinary meeting in July, but Vilkauskas was not removed. Four members voted for his dismissal and four voted against it in a secret ballot. Vilkauskas had refused to resign voluntarily.

Vilkauskas said he would soon serve as an ordinary committee member. He also said he had discussed the possibility of chairing a parliamentary commission with the prime minister, although no final decision had been made and he did not specify which commission was involved.

He previously told ELTA that Orinta Lieputė, the leader of the Social Democratic parliamentary group, had offered him the chairmanship of the parliamentary Commission on the Affairs of Older People.

Vilkauskas has led the Culture Committee since November 2024. Aleknavičienė previously chaired the Parliament’s Education and Science Committee. After she became culture minister in the government led by Inga Ruginienė, Social Democrat Jurgita Šukevičienė was appointed to chair that committee.