Žygimantas Pavilionis

Žygimantas Pavilionis was born on 22 July 1971 in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Žygimantas Pavilionis was born into a well-known family – his father, Rolandas Pavilionis, was a philosopher and longtime Rector of Vilnius University, and his mother, Marija Aušrinė Pavilionienė, was a university lecturer and active public figure.

He is married to his wife Lina (Lina Pavilionienė), and together they have four sons.

In 2013, he earned a Doctor of Social Science degree.

From 1992 to 1994 he studied international relations at Vilnius University’s Institute of International Relations and Political Science.

He holds a Master’s degree in Philosophy from Vilnius University (1989–1995).

He graduated from Sausio 13-osios Secondary School in Vilnius in 1989.

In 2015–2016, he served as an Ambassador-at-Large for the Eastern Neighbourhood at the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He was a lecturer at the General Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania during 2015–2016.

From 2011 to 2015, he was concurrently accredited as Lithuania’s Ambassador to the United Mexican States (Mexico).

He served as Lithuania’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United States of America from 2010 to 2015.

In 2009–2010, Pavilionis was Ambassador-at-Large coordinating Lithuania’s Presidency of the Community of Democracies, within the MFA’s Transatlantic Cooperation and Security Policy Department.

In 2007, Pavilionis was granted the diplomatic rank of Ambassador.

From 2006 to 2009 he served as an Undersecretary (Vice-Minister) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania.

He was Director of the European Integration Department at the MFA and Deputy Chief Negotiator for Lithuania’s EU membership from 2002 to 2006.

From 1999 to 2002, he served as a Counsellor and Minister Counsellor at Lithuania’s Permanent Representation to the European Union in Brussels.

In 1993, Pavilionis began working at Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, holding various positions including Third Secretary in the West European Division and later heading a division in the European Integration Department.

He was re-elected to the Fourteenth Seimas and has been serving as a Member of Parliament since 14 November 2024, representing the Naujamiesčio–Vilkpėdės constituency (No. 2).

Pavilionis served as Deputy Speaker of the Seimas from 16 July 2024 until 14 November 2024.

He served as a Member of the Thirteenth Seimas from 13 November 2020 to 14 November 2024.

In 2018, Pavilionis sought the TS-LKD nomination for the 2019 Lithuanian presidential election, receiving the second-highest support from the party’s chapters (34 nominations) – behind only Ingrida Šimonytė, who received 37 nominations.

He was elected as a Member of the Seimas in 2016 and served in the Twelfth Seimas (2016–2020).

From 1993 to 1995, he was a board member and the leader of the Vilnius Young Christian Democrats organization.

Žygimantas Pavilionis has been a member of the Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) since 1992.

He serves as a member of the TS-LKD Presidium and is the party’s International Secretary.

Since November 2024, Pavilionis has been serving as Deputy Chair of the Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs.

In 2024, he was appointed Chair of the Seimas Committee on European Affairs.

He again held the position of Chair of the Seimas Foreign Affairs Committee from 2022 until 2024.

He served as Deputy Chair of the Seimas Committee on European Affairs from 2020 to 2022.

In the Thirteenth Seimas, Pavilionis served as Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs from 2020 to 2021.

He was Deputy Chair of the Seimas Committee on European Affairs from 2019 until 2020.

During 2016–2020, he was a member of the Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs.

In the Twelfth Seimas, he chaired the Subcommittee on Transatlantic Relations and Democratic Development under the Foreign Affairs Committee (2016–2019).

In 2024, Pavilionis once again defeated Tomas Vytautas Raskevičius in the runoff for the Naujamiesčio–Vilkpėdės constituency seat, securing 48.5% of the vote against Raskevičius’ 43.1%.

In October 2020, Pavilionis was re-elected to the Seimas from Vilnius’ Naujamiesčio–Naujininkų constituency, securing 56.6% of the votes in the runoff against Freedom Party candidate Tomas Vytautas Raskevičius (35.3%).

In the October 2020 parliamentary election, Pavilionis ranked 8th among TS-LKD candidates by preferential votes on the national party list, though he ultimately secured his seat by winning his single-member constituency.

Pavilionis has consistently won election in a Vilnius single-member constituency. He captured the Naujamiesčio seat in 2016, was re-elected in the Naujamiesčio–Naujininkų constituency in 2020, and again won the Naujamiesčio–Vilkpėdės constituency in 2024 (after electoral boundary changes).

In the October 2016 Seimas elections, Pavilionis won Vilnius’ Naujamiesčio single-member constituency with 65.3% of the vote in the runoff, defeating Liberal candidate Virgilijus Alekna (who received 31.5%).

Pavilionis’s declared personal wealth is moderate compared to other MPs – he is neither among the very wealthiest (the 10th richest MP declared about €740,200 in assets for 2023) nor among the least wealthy (some MPs declared well under €10,000). His net worth falls somewhere in between these extremes.

Lithuania introduced an online registry (PINREG) for officials’ private interests in late 2020, so Pavilionis’s latest interest declaration is publicly accessible via this system, whereas his pre-2020 interest disclosures were not published online under the old regime.

During his diplomatic career, Pavilionis’s remuneration was at senior civil-service level – for example, ambassadors in the Foreign Ministry earned around €3,547 gross per month on average in 2020.

During his diplomatic career, Pavilionis’s pay was in line with senior civil service standards – for instance, an ambassadorial rank in the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry had an average monthly salary of roughly €3,547 gross in 2020.

As a Member of the Seimas, Pavilionis earns a base salary of roughly €2,570 per month (gross) – according to 2018 data for an ordinary MP – with additional pay if holding higher posts.

Pavilionis’s official income has varied with his positions. As an ordinary Seimas member, his base monthly salary was about €2,570 gross in 2018. In higher posts, he earned more – for example, as a Seimas Deputy Speaker his salary was roughly €2,968 gross per month, and as a Committee Chairman around €2,875 gross, under 2018 rates.

As a member of the Seimas, Pavilionis is required to file an annual Metinė gyventojo (šeimos) turto deklaracija (Form FR0001), and these asset declarations are made public by the State Tax Inspectorate (VMI) each year.

In 2022, he served as one of Lithuania’s co-chairs of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC).

He was the national coordinator of the World Parliamentary Network for Ukraine (U4U) in 2022.

In 2022, he chaired the Lithuania–Ukraine Parliamentary Assembly.

From 2016 to 2020 he headed the Seimas parliamentary Friendship Group with Georgia.

He is a member of the Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union.

He is a member of the Knights of Columbus in Lithuania.

He serves on the editorial board of the Lithuanian Annual Strategic Review published by the Military Academy of Lithuania.

He is a member of the Lithuanian Foundation and of the Lithuanian Ambassadors’ Club.

On January 3, 2022, Pavilionis announced he was resigning as Chairman of the Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs at the request of his TS-LKD party, following criticism over the handling of U.S.-sanctioned Belarusian fertiliser transit.

In 2020, the Seimas Ethics and Procedures Commission found that Pavilionis had omitted required information in his private interests declaration – specifically, he had not declared his role in the anti-Astrav Nuclear Power Plant association “Sąjūdis prieš Astravo AE,” despite being a board member of that organization.

In June 2019, Pavilionis spoke out against granting state recognition to the Romuva Baltic pagan community by alleging that the Russian KGB had worked to strengthen paganism in Lithuania; later that year, the Seimas Ethics and Procedures Commission ruled his remarks were false and ordered him to retract them officially.

On May 12, 2021, the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute (CHLI) honored Žygimantas Pavilionis with an International Leadership Award at its 17th Annual Gala.

In 2015, the Lithuanian–American Community awarded him the Žalgiris Medal for sincere and meaningful cooperation.

Also in 2015, he received an award from the American–Lithuanian Business Council for contributing to the development of business relations with the USA.

He received an award from the Ukrainian National Information Service (UNIS) in 2014 for his support to Ukraine.

In 2013, he was honored with the Order of Honour of Georgia.

Pavilionis received the Mark Palmer Prize in 2011 for his contribution to the development of democracy.

He received the Cross of the Commander of the Order of Leopold II from Belgium in 2009.

In 2009, he was also awarded the Cross of the Commander of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.

In 2008, Pavilionis was honored with the Cross of the Knight of the Order of Oranje-Nassau from the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

He received a commemorative badge from the State Border Guard Service in 2006 for active cooperation and assistance in strengthening border protection.

In 2003, he was awarded the Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania.

He received a commemorative badge in 2002 for his personal contribution to Lithuania’s trans-Atlantic integration on the occasion of Lithuania’s invitation to join NATO.