Laima Andrikienė

Laima Andrikienė
Nationality	Lithuanian
Education	Doctorate in Economics
Alma mater	Vilnius University,University of Manchester,Georgetown University
Occupation	Politician
Years active	1990-Present
Political party	European People's Party
Honours	Ordre national du Mérite Independence Medal Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas Lietuvos kariuomenės kūrėjų savanorių medalis Order of Honor Orden de Isabel la Católica

Laima Liucija Andrikienė(born 1 January 1958 inDruskininkai) is aLithuanianpolitician serving as member of theEuropean Court of Auditorssince November 2022.

Andrikienė is signatory of theAct of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania,member ofReconstituent Seimas(1990-1992), former and current member of theSeimas(1992-2000, 2020-current), former chair of Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Seimas, former vice-president of theParliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe,former Minister of Industry and Trade, former minister of European Affairs, and former member of theEuropean Parliament(2004-2014, 2016–2019) for theHomeland Union (Lithuanian Conservatives)andEuropean People’s Party,respectively.

Biography

Andrikienė was born inDruskininkaion 1 January 1958. In 1980 Andrikienė graduated fromVilnius Universitywith a degree in Economics and Math. She worked as an engineer, an later as a research fellow, at the Lithuanian Institute for Research of Agricultural Economy. She successfully concluded doctoral studies in 1994. Andrikiene spent time as a Fellow atUniversity of Manchesterand as aPew Economic Freedom FellowatGeorgetown University.

Political career

In 1990 Andrikienė was elected to theSupreme Council of Lithuaniaand was a signatory to theAct of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania.In theelections in 1992,she was elected as the member of theSixth Seimasthrough the electoral list ofSąjūdis.In 1996, representingHomeland Union,she was elected foranother term of the Seimasin Pramonės (17) single-seat constituency inKaunas.

In December 1996 Andrikienė was appointed the Minister of the Industry and Trade for a short time. Later same month she was appointed a Minister of European Affairs.

Andrikienė left the Homeland Union at the end of 1998 together with her then-husband and fellow member of the SeimasVidmantas Žiemelis.In 1999 they founded a short-lived Homeland People’s Party.In 2001 she joined the Lithuanian Union of the Right and in 2003 rejoined theHomeland Union.

In 2004 Andrikienė was elected to theEuropean Parliamentfor Lithuania. She was elected from the electoral list of theHomeland Unionand sat with theEuropean People's Party.She was reelected in 2009 and was MEP up until 2014.As from 30 May 2016, Laima Liucija Andrikienė replacedGabrielius Landsbergis(who stood down and took part in campaigning before2016 Lithuanian parliamentary election) as an MEP for her third term. She served up until 2019. She was a Member of theCommittee on International Trade,Member ofSub-Committee on Security and Defense,Substitute Member ofForeign Affairs Committee,1st Vice Chair of the Delegation to the EU-Kazakhstan,EU-Kyrgyzstan,EU-Uzbekistanand EU-TajikistanParliamentary Cooperation Committees and for relations withTurkmenistanandMongoliaand a Substitute Member of the Delegation for the relations with theUnited States.

In 2018 she won the International Trade Award of the Parliament Magazine’s Annual MEP Awards.

In2020 Lithuanian parliamentary election,Andrikienė was elected to the Seimas. She was confirmed Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in January 2022.

Andrikienė started a 6-year term as one of 27 members of theEuropean Court of Auditorsin November 2022.

Awards

• 1997Ordre national du Mérite,France(Grand Officier)
• 2000Independence Medal (Lithuania)
• 2003 Medal “Ubi concordia ibi victoria” of theBaltic Assembly
• 2004Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas(Commander’s Cross)
• 2007Honoris causa,Kingston University
• 2008 Award ofLithuanian Confederation of Industrialists
• 2012Lietuvos kariuomenės kūrėjų savanorių medalis
• 2014 Medal of Diplomacy,Taiwan
• 2014Order of Honor,Georgia
• 2018 MEP of the Year 2018 (international trade) – "The Parliament Magazine"
• 2020Orden de Isabel la Católica,Kingdom of Spain(Cruz de Oficial)