Artūras Zuokas

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Artūras Zuokas (born February 21, 1968) is a Lithuanian politician. He is former leader of the Liberal and Centre Union political party and was the Mayor of Vilnius city municipality from 2000-2007. He is currently a member of the Seimas (Lithuanian Parliament). ^[1]

In his youth, he was a war reporter in the First Gulf War, during which he taped footage that was shown all over the world (for example the bombing of the Baghdad TV Tower).^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1 Election as Mayor 2 Mayoral projects 3 Member of Parliment 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Election as Mayor

Zuokas was one of the campaign managers for Liberal Union of Lithuania in the 2000 Seimas elections. His party placed second and won 36 seats. It formed an alliance with the New Union (Socialliberals) and Rolandas Paksas, the leader of the Liberal Union and Vilnius city municipality mayor, became the Prime Minister. There were two candidates to fill in the vacant mayor post: vice-mayor Algirdas Kudzys, and Zuokas, both members of the Liberal Union. There were doubts if Zuokas should become the mayor as he was very young, inexperienced in politics (he was elected to the council just in Spring 2000), and as a businessman he had strong personal interests (for example, he owned a private company in Užupis and some were afraid that he might spend the city funds to reconstruct this district). However, on November 15, 2000, the council voted 27-18 to make Zuokas, at age 32, the youngest mayor in the history of Vilnius.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Mayoral projects

Zuokas soon earned the reputation of an energetic and innovative leader. As early as 2000 he unveiled some of his construction ideas. The populace received them as yet another collection of political promises and fantasies; however, a number of those projects have since been completed:^{[citation needed]}

As Mayor he pushed to restore Vilnius’s 17th-century old town. ^[1]

• The Mindaugas Bridge over the Neris River was completed for the 750th anniversary of Mindaugas coronation in 2003. It was contemplated as part of effort to reconstruct Žalgiris Stadium, Žalgiris swimming pool, and Vilnius Concert and Sport Palace in Žirmūnai. However, those projects are still in progress.
• The reconstruction of Gediminas Avenue is almost complete. An underground parking lot under the Municipality Square has been opened.
• A two-level crossing was built to ease traffic jams for Pilaitė residents.
• A new municipal building was opened on the right bank of the Neris River. Zuokas revitalized and supported Rolandas Paksas' idea to build a new commercial center in Šnipiškės. The new building was just a first step. It has been joined by the new Europa Tower and shopping center. Construction was funded by selling old administrative buildings scattered around the city.
• Construction of the Constitution Avenue is complete.
• Užupis and Malūnai Streets in Užupis district were reconstructed and water supply pipes were replaced. This was justified by the claim that those two streets are most popular among tourists. However, Zuokas’ house as well as his company are both located on Užupis Street.

Zuokas is also sometimes credited for attracting substantial investments into Vilnius. Zuokas has made an effort to market Vilnius at various international exhibitions. He personally attended many meetings with foreign investors. Zuokas speaks several foreign languages and, being himself a businessman, understands business needs well. Also, bureaucratic obstacles to construction have been reduced. In the past few years Vilnius has seen the construction and reconstruction of numerous hotels, office buildings, shopping centers, and residential dwellings.^{[citation needed]}

Zuokas is known for his tourist-orientated initiatives. For example, all taxicabs are now required to be painted in yellow and be not older than 12 years, requirements which faced fierce resistance from taxi drivers. Vilnius city municipality now also maintains a large number of informational maps and signs across the city. He also launched a marketing campaign targeted to the Baltic Sea region to attract more tourists to Vilnius.^{[citation needed]}

In Spring 2001, Vilnius city municipality unveiled a new www.vilnius.lt portal. It was one of the first Internet sites operated by a local government in Lithuania. The site is interactive, and a new position of "e-vice mayor" was created to deal with e-mails from the residents. Another concept was to set up a camera in the mayor's office so that people could watch, but not hear his work live over the Internet. However, this concept was soon abandoned.^{[citation needed]}

He was prosecuted but found not guilty of electoral fraud during the 2003 municipal elections.^[2] He was later convicted of bribing a city council member whilst he was Mayor and fined. ^[3] A parliamentary commission also concluded that he could have been the "subscriber" in a large bribery scandal. ^[4]

[edit] Member of Parliment

In the Lithuanian parliamentary election, 2008, his Liberal and Center Union party won 8 seats. The party joined the ruling coalition led by Andrius Kubilius and was given the Health and Interior Minister places.

Zuokas put himself forward to be Health Minister but withdrew after an outcry over his bribery conviction. ^[3]

[edit] References

• Delfi.lt news archives (Lithuanian)

[edit] External links

• Blog of Artūras Zuokas (Lithuanian)