Agnė Širinskienė

Agnė Širinskienė was born on 1975-11-09 in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Her parents separated when she was an infant, and her mother, Elvyra Kazėnienė, moved with baby Agnė to her grandparents’ home in Dūkštas, Ignalina District.

In 2009, she earned a Master’s degree (specialization in European Union law) from Mykolas Romeris University.

She received a Bachelor’s degree in Law from Mykolas Romeris University in 2007.

In 2006, she completed an academic internship at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., USA.

She earned a Doctor of Humanities (Ph.D.) degree at Vytautas Magnus University in 2005.

In 2000, she obtained a Master’s degree in Pastoral Theology from Vytautas Magnus University.

In 1998, she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Catholic Theology (with a specialization in English language and literature) from Vytautas Magnus University.

She graduated from secondary school in Dūkštas in 1993.

She was an outstanding student in secondary school at Dūkštas, remembered by her teachers as a diligent and exemplary pupil.

She also had a stint in the private sector, working at UAB “ConcepT CRO” in 2012–2013.

She was an associate professor at Mykolas Romeris University’s Faculty of Law (Institute of Public Law) from 2004 to 2016.

In 2004, she worked at the Institute of Life and Faith (VšĮ “Gyvenimo ir tikėjimo institutas”).

She was a lecturer at Kaunas Medical University (now Lithuanian University of Health Sciences) in 2003–2004.

She was a lecturer at Vilnius Pedagogical University (now VDU Education Academy) from 2002 to 2004.

From 1999 to 2000, she served as the editor-in-chief of the Lithuanian Catechetical Center’s magazine “Sėjėjas.”

In 2025, she announced her decision to leave the “Nemuno Aušra” party.

Later in 2025, she joined the Union of Democrats “For Lithuania” party.

In the current Seimas (2024–2028), she is a member of the Democrats “For Lithuania” parliamentary faction.

She served as Deputy Speaker of the Seimas from November 14, 2024 until March 21, 2025.

She was elected to the Seimas for a third term in 2024, representing the party “Nemuno Aušra” and entering as a list candidate.

In December 2021, Agnė Širinskienė announced her resignation from the LVŽS party and its parliamentary faction.

After leaving LVŽS, she joined the Lithuanian Regions Group (Regionų frakcija) in the Seimas in late 2021.

She was elected to the Seimas again in 2020 (for the 2020–2024 term) on the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union’s list (multi-member constituency).

She was a member of the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union (LVŽS) and was often regarded as one of party leader Ramūnas Karbauskis’s closest allies until she left the party in 2021.

Agnė Širinskienė became a Member of the Seimas (Lithuanian Parliament) on 2016-11-14 and served until 2020-11-13 in the 2016–2020 term.

She served as Chair of the Seimas Committee on Legal Affairs from 2017-11-24 until the end of the 2016–2020 term (2020-11-13).

In 2017, she was appointed as chair of a special parliamentary commission to investigate the grounds for the impeachment of MP Mindaugas Bastys.

She was Chair of the Seimas Health Affairs Committee from 2016-11-22 to 2017-11-20.

At the start of the 2016–2020 term, she briefly served as a member of the Seimas European Affairs Committee (Nov 2016 – Jun 2017).

In the 2016 parliamentary elections, Širinskienė ran as the LVŽS candidate in the Šalčininkų–Vilniaus single-member constituency but lost to Leonard Talmont of LLRA (who won about 64.4% of the vote in the first round). Nevertheless, Širinskienė entered the Seimas via the LVŽS party list in the multi-member constituency.

As Deputy Speaker of the Seimas in late 2024–early 2025, her position’s monthly salary was about €2,968 (gross), according to the official parliamentary pay scale.

She is not among the wealthiest Lithuanian politicians; for instance, a 2022 review of asset declarations showed only four Seimas members with over €1 million in assets, a group that did not include Širinskienė.

As a Member of Parliament, Širinskienė’s base salary was about €2,570.50 per month (gross) in 2018, with higher pay if holding additional posts (e.g., committee chair or Deputy Speaker).

During her tenure as Chair of the Seimas Committee on Legal Affairs (2017–2020), Širinskienė’s monthly salary was €2,875.25 (gross) as of 2018, the standard rate for a committee chair.

As a university associate professor before entering politics, her monthly salary was relatively modest – roughly in the €900–€1,150 range (pre-tax), based on national averages for that position in 2017.

She was a member of the Lithuanian Lawyers’ Association group “Nuomonė” and also served as a non-staff expert for the Seimas Health Affairs Committee (prior to becoming an MP).

Her remarks about the law scholars in 2023 led to an inquiry by the Seimas Ethics and Procedures Commission, which concluded that she did not violate the Code of Conduct but recommended she avoid judging academic ethics in the future.

In late 2016, her doctoral dissertation sparked controversy for implying that AIDS was a divine punishment for immoral behavior. Širinskienė argued that the quotation was taken out of context and that she had actually aimed to show diseases are not God’s punishment.

In 2023, she publicly criticized a Vytautas Magnus University Law Faculty report supporting a same-sex civil unions bill, calling the scholars’ work “manipulative” and “unethical.”

In early 2020, as Chair of the Legal Affairs Committee, she asked the Data Protection Inspectorate to issue guidelines on handling personal data (like ethnicity) after a controversy involving a memo about “20 Poles” allegedly hired by Minister Jaroslav Narkevič.

Besides her native Lithuanian, Agnė Širinskienė speaks several languages, including English, Russian, French, Italian, and Latin.

She is married (Ištekėjusi).

Agnė Širinskienė is married to Arvydas Širinskas.

She is a Roman Catholic.

She met her future husband Arvydas Širinskas while preparing for her First Communion in Švedriškė parish, a village where Arvydas’s parents lived.

One of Agnė Širinskienė’s hobbies is cultivating roses – she tends about fifty rose bushes and is especially fond of historic rose varieties (registered before the mid-19th century).

Her husband, Arvydas Širinskas, is a retired military officer.

She has no children and has publicly acknowledged that she has come to terms with not having any, choosing to focus on other pursuits in life.

Her husband, Arvydas Širinskas, having retired from a military career, has attempted to establish a small automotive-related business in his retirement.