Gintarė Skaistė

Skaistė’s husband, Audrius Skaistys, holds a PhD in law and serves as the head of the Legal Department at Lithuania’s National Paying Agency (Nacionalinė mokėjimo agentūra, NMA).

Gintarė Skaistė was born on 4 August 1981 in Kaunas, Lithuania.

She is married to Audrius Skaistys and has two children.

She holds a PhD in Social Sciences (Economics), which she earned in 2016.

In 2014, Skaistė completed a traineeship at the University of A Coruña in Spain.

She later undertook a traineeship at the University of Cyprus in 2013.

She obtained a Master’s degree in Economics from Mykolas Romeris University in 2011.

Skaistė earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Kaunas University of Technology in 2010.

In 2004, Skaistė completed a traineeship at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid in Spain.

From 2000 to 2016, she worked as a sales manager at the private company UAB “Tesuma.”

She is a member of the 14th Seimas, having returned to Parliament on 14 November 2024.

Skaistė served as the Minister of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania from 2020 to 2024.

She was a member of the 13th Seimas of Lithuania, serving during the 2020–2024 parliamentary term.

She was a member of the 12th Seimas of Lithuania, serving in Parliament from 2016 to 2020.

She chaired the Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrat political group in the Kaunas City Council from 2014 to 2015.

Prior to national office, Skaistė served as a member of the Kaunas City Municipal Council from 2007 to 2016.

She has been a member of the Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) since 2005.

From 2004 to 2008, Skaistė was a member of the Young Conservatives League, the youth wing of TS-LKD.

In December 2024, following her return to the Seimas, Skaistė was appointed Deputy Chair of the Seimas Committee on Budget and Finance.

She was a member of the Seimas Committee on Budget and Finance from 2019 to 2020.

She also served as a member of the Migration Commission in the Seimas during her 2016–2020 term.

During 2016–2019, she served as a member of the Seimas Committee on Social Affairs and Labour.

In 2016, Skaistė was a member of the Seimas Commission for Youth and Sport Affairs.

In the 2024 parliamentary elections, Skaistė again topped the first round of voting in Panemunė constituency; after a recount settled a tie for second place, she advanced to the runoff but did not win the seat, subsequently taking a mandate through her party’s list.

In the October 2024 Seimas elections, Skaistė led the first round in Kaunas’ Panemunė constituency with 29.84% of the vote. Two other candidates, Audrius Radvilavičius (LSDP) and Edgaras Gudynas ("Nemuno aušra"), tied for second place at 12.92% each (2498 votes). After a recount, Skaistė and Radvilavičius advanced to a runoff, where Radvilavičius prevailed.

She was re-elected to the Seimas in 2024, entering Parliament via the Homeland Union’s party list.

In the first round of the 2020 Seimas elections, Skaistė led the Panemunė single-member constituency with 33.03% of the vote, and she went on to defeat Aurelijus Veryga in the runoff, securing her parliamentary seat.

Although Skaistė won the Panemunė constituency in 2020 (33.03% in the first round and a runoff victory over Aurelijus Veryga), she lost that constituency in 2024’s second round to social democrat Audrius Radvilavičius. Nevertheless, her high placement on the TS-LKD party list in 2024 ensured she retained a Seimas seat via the multi-member results.

In the 2020 parliamentary elections, Skaistė was elected to the Seimas as the representative of the Panemunė constituency in Kaunas.

She was first elected to the Seimas in the 2016 parliamentary elections.

In the 2012 parliamentary election, Skaistė was ranked 61st on the TS-LKD party list and received 932 preferential votes, which raised her final position to 52nd, but she did not enter the Seimas as TS-LKD won too few seats in that election.

As Minister of Finance (2020–2024), Skaistė’s official salary was approximately €4,900 gross per month in 2024, in line with the standard pay for Cabinet ministers.

As a Seimas member, Skaistė’s compensation has increased following recent pay raises: as of late 2024 an ordinary MP earns nearly €4,000 per month after taxes (approximately €5,500–€6,000 gross).

In the 2023 declaration (for the year 2022), Skaistė’s husband Audrius Skaistys acquired a new apartment for €40,400, and his personal savings rose by €35,626 (to €54,221), contributing to the family’s overall increase in assets that year.

Serving as a Kaunas City Councillor (2007–2016) did not provide a traditional salary; instead, Skaistė and other council members received expense compensations, which in Kaunas have averaged up to ~€800 per month for council-related costs.

In 2016, she served as an expert at the Lithuanian Institute for Social Market Development.

Skaistė has been a member of the Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union since 2010.

She is a member of the Lithuanian Atlantic Treaty Association (since 2005) and served as its chairperson from 2010 to 2012.

She has been a member of the Lithuanian Reform Movement (Sąjūdis) since 2004.

During a teachers’ strike in September 2023, Skaistė’s husband Audrius Skaistys (a TS-LKD politician on the Vilnius City Council) posted Facebook comments calling the protesting teachers “commies” (*komuniagos*) and “broileriai” (slang for "party-bred novices"), sparking public criticism. He later apologized to the education community for his remarks.

In 2013, Skaistė was caught driving under the influence (0.8‰ blood alcohol content) in Kaunas, for which the Kaunas District Court fined her 1000 LTL and suspended her driving license for one year.

On a separate occasion during her tenure as a Kaunas City Council member, Skaistė and a group of colleagues were found drinking wine and brandy in a municipal office during a council meeting break, an incident she and others downplayed as a casual gathering.

In 2022, the Financial Times’ magazine *The Banker* named Gintarė Skaistė as the Finance Minister of the Year in both global and European categories.

In 2020, Skaistė was honored with the Spanish Kingdom’s Officer’s Cross for civic merit to Spain.

In 2019, she received the Riflemen’s Union’s III Class Distinction “For Merits to the Riflemen’s Union,” recognizing her active role in strengthening that organization.

Skaistė was awarded the Lithuanian Officer Jonas Semaška Cross in 2017.

She is fluent in English, Russian, and Spanish.

Her hobbies include traveling, history, and basketball.