Rolandas Paksas is a former President of Lithuania and a politician in Lithuania. He served as President of Lithuania, Prime Minister of Lithuania, and Mayor of Vilnius, among other positions. He is the current leader of the Order and Justice (TT) party and a European Parliament Member. He is a competent stunt pilot who has competed in both national Lithuanian and national Soviet acrobatics teams. He formed Restako, a construction company, after the Soviet Union fell apart, and served as its president. He resigned five months after taking office as Prime Minister due to a disagreement over privatization. Rolandas Paksas was re-elected Prime Minister after joining the Liberal Union of Lithuania (LLS), but resigned due to differences over economic reforms. He then created the center-right Liberal Democratic Party, which he ran against Valdas Adamkus for the presidency and won. He became the first European Head of State to be impeached after news broke that he had awarded citizenship to a key campaign supporter. He was elected to the European Parliament, heading his Order and Justice (TT) party, after being dismissed from office and barred from the Seimas (unicameral Lithuanian parliament).
Childhood and Adolescence
Rolandas Paksas was born on June 10, 1956, in Teliai, Lithuanian SSR, former Soviet Union, to Elena and Feliksas Paksai. His father worked as a railway clerk before moving into the wholesale grain business. His mother was a registered nurse. Her family was sent to Siberia, although they were spared the Soviet labor camps.
He graduated from Zemaites High School in 1974 and went on to the Vilnius Civil Engineering Institute, where he earned his bachelor’s degree five years later.
In 1984, he graduated from the Leningrad Civil Aviation Academy. He also competed in several acrobatics events during this time, winning several titles with both Soviet and Lithuanian teams.
Career of Rolandas Paksas
He began his political career as a member of the Lithuanian Communist Party (LKP). After that, he became a member of the left-wing Democratic Labor Party (LDDP), which succeeded the LKP. He defected to the Homeland Union, a conservative right-wing party, in 1995. In 1997, he was voted to the Vilnius City Council and named Mayor of the city. In addition, he was the chairman of the Vilnius branch of the Homeland Union.
After Vagnorius stepped down in May 1999, President Valdas Adamkus requested him to become Prime Minister.
He accepted the President’s offer in June 1999, but conservatives compelled him to leave five months later. After refusing to agree to the sale of Maeiki Nafta, a major Lithuanian oil refining company, to Williams International, a US oil company, he was forced to quit.
He served as President Adamkus’ Special Assignments envoy after stepping down from the role of Prime Minister.
He left the Homeland Union to join the Liberal Union of Lithuania, and in April 2000, he was re-elected Mayor of Vilnius.
From November 2000 to June 2001, he served as Prime Minister in the eleventh Cabinet, stepping down due to disagreements over economic reforms. He created the center-right Liberal Democratic Party after standing down as Prime Minister, and was elected as one of its chairmen in March 2002.
Despite the fact that all major Lithuanian parties endorsed former President Valdas Adamkas, he decided to run for President and won 19.7% of the vote in the first round and 54.9 percent in the runoff. On January 5, 2003, he was formally elected. His election campaign was the most expensive in the history of Lithuania. It involved a flight under a bridge, which Rolandas Paksas and two pals executed.
The flight, which involved three planes passing beneath the bridge at the same time, set a new world record. During his campaign, he promised to implement the death sentence for drug traffickers, reduce poverty and wealth gaps, and move Lithuania closer to a market-based economy.
He was elected President of Lithuania for the third time on February 26, 2003. His short tenure as President was marked by flexibility and success in developing better relations with Russia than his predecessors. Concerns that he had ties to organized crime, particularly the Russian mafia, surfaced soon after he took office. He had given Yuri Borisov, the president of the Avia Baltika aircraft company, Lithuanian citizenship after he had donated $400,000 to his campaign. This was deemed unconstitutional, and Rolandas Paksas’ connections were investigated by the Department of Security.
On March 31, 2004, the Constitutional Court of Lithuania found him guilty of breaking both the constitution and his oath of office, and the Seimas commenced impeachment procedures. On April 6, 2004, a vote in the Seimas was carried, thus removing him from the presidency. Three allegations were brought against him: interfering in a private transaction, leaking sensitive information, and illegally restoring Yuri Borisov’s citizenship.
The Seimas passed a constitutional amendment prohibiting impeached persons from holding the office of President for more than five years after he declared his desire to run for President again. Later, the Lithuanian Constitutional Court declared that this was illegal and that anyone who had broken the constitution or an oath could never hold a public position that required an oath again. In 2011, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that his lifetime ban on being elected to Parliament was a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Achievements & Awards
Former President Valdas Adamkus presented Rolandas Paksas with the Order of Vytautas the Great and a gold chain on February 26, 2003.
Personal History and Legacy
Laima Paksien, an engineer economist, is Rolandas Paksas’s wife. They are the parents of two children. Inga Paksas, their daughter, is a student at the Lithuanian Law University and the International Business School in Vilnius. Mindaugus Paksas, their son, is a student at Vilnius’ T. Liubertienes secondary school. Although barred from holding a public office, he continues to remain politically active from behind the scenes
Estimated Net Worth
Rolandas Paksas is one of the wealthiest politicians and one of the most well-known. Rolandas Paksas’ net worth is estimated to be $1.5 million, according to Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider.