Rima Baškienė

Rima Baškienė is a Lithuanian politician who has served as a member of the Seimas since 2004.

Rima Baškienė was born on 25 October 1960 in Kentrių village, Kelmės district, Lithuania.

Rima Baškienė’s maiden surname was Špakauskaitė.

From 1978 to 1983, she studied at Kaunas Polytechnic Institute (now Kaunas University of Technology), qualifying as an engineer-technologist.

She completed her secondary education at Kuršėnų 1-oji vidurinė mokykla (Kuršėnai First Secondary School) in 1978.

From 1997 to 2000, Baškienė served as an assistant-secretary to a member of the Seimas.

From 1984 to 1994, she worked as an instructor in the Šiaulių district committee of the Agricultural Workers’ Trade Union.

In 1984, she served as an economist at the Šiaulių district executive committee (Šiaulių rajono vykdomasis komitetas).

In 1983–1984, Baškienė worked as an engineer-technologist at the Plungė Linen Textile Factory.

In early 2022, Baškienė became one of the eight deputy chairpersons of the newly established Democratic Union "For Lithuania" party.

She has been serving as a deputy chairperson of the Democrats “For Lithuania” parliamentary faction in the Seimas.

In 2021, Baškienė left the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union and in 2022 she joined the newly established Democratic Union "For Lithuania".

She served as the First Deputy Speaker of the Seimas from November 15, 2016 to November 13, 2020.

She led the Mixed Group of Members of the Seimas (Mišri Seimo narių grupė) as the faction head from 2012 to 2016.

Baškienė was the Deputy Mayor of Šiauliai District Municipality from 2000 to 2004.

She was an elected member of the Šiauliai District Municipal Council from 2000 to 2004.

In 1996, Rima Baškienė joined the Lithuanian Farmers’ Party (later the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union).

She also served as a deputy chairperson of the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union (LVŽS).

In December 2024, she became the Chair of the Seimas Freedom Prize Commission.

As of November 2024, Baškienė is a member of the Seimas Committee on Culture.

She was a member of the Seimas Social Affairs and Labour Committee, including during the 2020–2024 parliamentary term.

She served as a member of the Seimas Education, Science and Culture Committee during the 2012–2016 term.

She was a member of the Seimas Commission for Prevention of Drug and Alcohol Addiction during 2012–2016.

She was Deputy Chair of the Seimas and World Lithuanian Community Commission during the 2008–2012 term.

She was a member of the Seimas Ethics and Procedures Commission during the 2008–2012 term.

During the 2004–2008 term, she served as Chair of the Seimas Family and Child Affairs Commission.

During the 2004–2008 term, she served as a member of the Seimas delegation to the Baltic Assembly.

In the October 2024 parliamentary election, Baškienė was among the 8 candidates from Saulius Skvernelis’s Democratic Union "For Lithuania" who won seats. The party list garnered about 9% of the national vote, securing 8 mandates, and Baškienė’s high list placement and sufficient voorkeur votes ensured her election to the Seimas via the party list.

On the Democrats “For Lithuania” list in 2024, Baškienė had a high placement and received enough preferential votes to secure a mandate via the multi-member constituency. The party’s list obtained about 9% of the national vote (translating to 8 proportional seats), and together with single-member wins the party ended up with 14 Seimas seats.

In the 2024 parliamentary election, Baškienė was one of the top-listed candidates of the Democratic Union "For Lithuania" and secured re-election via the party’s multi-member national list. The party surpassed the 5% threshold, winning 9.24% of the vote and earning 8 proportional seats, which included Baškienė’s mandate.

In October 2020, Baškienė won the Seimas election in the Šiaulių region single-member district with 9041 votes (65.93%), earning her fifth consecutive term.

Baškienė was consistently successful in single-member district elections in the Šiauliai region. In 2012, running in the Šiaulių kaimiškoji (rural) constituency, she secured the only Seimas seat won by the Farmers and Greens Union that year. She again won her district in 2016 and 2020 (the latter with a decisive majority in the runoff), before opting to run only on the party list in 2024.

In the 2012 parliamentary election, she won the Šiauliai rural single-member constituency, securing the sole seat that year for the Farmers and Greens Union.

Baškienė has been elected to the Seimas in every election since 2004, serving in the 2004–2008, 2008–2012, 2012–2016, 2016–2020, 2020–2024, and 2024–2028 terms.

Baškienė’s official asset declarations are filed annually with the State Tax Inspectorate. For example, her latest declaration (submitted in 2023 for year 2022) is accessible through VMI’s public portal, detailing her and her spouse’s owned assets (real estate, vehicles, savings) and any liabilities.

As a Seimas member, Baškienė’s base salary is determined by a coefficient of 9.5 applied to the statutory salary base, while as First Deputy Speaker (2016–2020) her position carried a higher coefficient of 14 – roughly a 47% higher pay rate than a rank-and-file MP.

Public asset declarations indicate that Baškienė’s family holds significant assets (real estate, savings, etc.), on the order of a few hundred thousand euros. (For context, the average incoming MP in 2024 declared over €280,000 in total assets.)

No significant unexplained changes in Baškienė’s wealth have been observed over the past decade. Analyses of politicians’ annual declarations have highlighted those with large jumps in net worth – and Baškienė’s name does not appear among MPs with unusually high year-to-year increases. This suggests her finances have grown gradually in line with her steady public-sector income.

As Deputy Mayor of Šiauliai District (2000–2004), Baškienė was a full-time municipal official paid from the local budget. Such positions at the time had relatively modest salaries (on the order of a few thousand Lithuanian litų per month, roughly €600–800, estimated), in line with early-2000s public-sector pay scales.

She is a member of the Šiaulių District women’s organization “Atgaiva.”

She is also a member of the Šiauliai region poetry and arts creators’ association “Menų šaltinis.”

In 2006, Baškienė was awarded the Baltic Assembly Medal for her merits in strengthening the unity of the Baltic States.

Baškienė’s immediate family is not publicly involved in politics; her husband and two children are included in her asset declarations, but no separate public profile or significant independent wealth of theirs is documented in official sources.

Baškienė has advocated for the creation of a state-owned commercial bank in Lithuania, expressing full agreement with the idea in a 2024 election questionnaire.

She also indicated opposition to reducing business taxes if it would significantly lower state budget revenues, favoring fiscal balance over such tax cuts.

In 2014, she became the patron of the Kuršėnai Vytautas Vitkauskas Public Library branch.

Since 2005, Baškienė has been the patron of the annual children’s book festival "Pasibelsk į knygos širdį" ("Knock on the Heart of the Book") held in Kuršėnai.

From 2004 to 2013, she was the patron of the Lithuanian Queen Morta Award, which recognized talented children for achievements in various art fields.

She speaks Lithuanian (native), and also has proficiency in German and Russian languages.

Rima Baškienė is married and has two children.