Audronius Ažubalis
{{short description|Lithuanian journalist and politician}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Audronius Ažubalis
| image = Audronis Azubalis by Augustas Didzgalvis.jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| office5 = Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania
| president5 = Dalia Grybauskaitė
| primeminister5 = Andrius Kubilius
| term_start5 = 11 February 2010
| term_end5 = 13 December 2012
| predecessor5 = Vygaudas Ušackas
| successor5 = Linas Antanas Linkevičius
| office = Member of the Seimas
| constituency4 = Fabijoniškės
| predecessor4 = Algirdas Kunčinas
| successor4 = Raimondas Šukys
| term_start4 = 11 November 1996
| term_end4 = 18 October 2000
| constituency3 = Multi-member
| predecessor3 = Vytautas Landsbergis
| term_start3 = 23 June 2004
| term_end3 = 16 November 2008
| constituency2 = Šeškinė
| term_start2 = 17 November 2008
| term_end2 = 13 November 2016
| predecessor2 = Vilija Blinkevičiūtė
| successor2 = Virginijus Sinkevičius
| constituency = Multi-member
| term_start = 14 November 2016
| term_end =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1958|01|17|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Vilnius, Lithuania
| nationality =
| occupation =
| party = Homeland Union
}}
Audronius Ažubalis (born 17 January 1958 in Vilnius, Lithuania) is a Lithuanian journalist and politician, serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania from 2010 to 2012. He was a member of the Seimas 1996–2000, and was elected again in 2004. He has chaired the foreign affairs committee of the Seimas. Ažubalis represents the Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats, Lithuania's conservative party and part of the European People's Party.
Biography
In 1976 he graduated from Antanas Vienuolis Secondary School in Vilnius and enrolled into the Vilnius University. He received a tertiary education degree in history in 1989. Later he continued his studies at the World Press Institute at Macalester College, United States.
In January 2010, Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius presented Ažubalis as a candidate for the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs to President Dalia Grybauskaitė.
Views on Stalinism
Together with five other European foreign ministers, Ažubalis has called for the criminalization of "the approval, denial or belittling of communist crimes,"{{cite web|title=Lithuania seeks to keep alive the memory of totalitarian regimes|url=http://www.alfa.lt/straipsnis/10430386/?Lithuania.seeks.to.keep.alive.the.memory.of.totalitarian.regimes=2010-12-16_11-37|publisher=Alfa|access-date=26 May 2011}} arguing that "everybody knows about the crimes of Nazism, but only part of Europe is aware of the crimes of communism."{{cite web|url=http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/eeurope-history.7mg/ |title=EU newcomers demand ban on communist crime denial |date=14 December 2010 |publisher=EUbusiness |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519144134/http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/eeurope-history.7mg/ |archive-date=2011-05-19 |access-date=2011-05-10 |url-status=live }} Ažubalis has argued that "it is not possible to find differences between Hitler and Stalin except in their moustaches,"{{cite web|title=A. Ažubalis: apgailėtina pasirašyti deklaraciją, atmetančią nacių ir sovietų nusikaltimų sulyginimą |url=http://www.lzinios.lt/Lietuvoje/A.Azubalis-apgailetina-pasirasyti-deklaracija-atmetancia-naciu-ir-sovietu-nusikaltimu-sulyginima |publisher=lzinios.lt |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012131527/http://www.lzinios.lt/Lietuvoje/A.Azubalis-apgailetina-pasirasyti-deklaracija-atmetancia-naciu-ir-sovietu-nusikaltimu-sulyginima |date=20 January 2012 |archive-date=12 October 2016 |url-status=dead }} echoing the view advanced by Stéphane Courtois in The Black Book of Communism.{{cite book |title= The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression | editor1-last = Courtois | editor1-first = Stéphane | editor1-link =Stéphane Courtois |year= 1999 |publisher= Harvard University Press |isbn= 0-674-07608-7 |page=9 }}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.alfa.lt/straipsnis/10311448/?Conservatives.want.Azubalis.to.head.foreign.ministry=2010-01-26_08-11 Conservatives want Ažubalis to head foreign ministry] (2010-01-26 08:11 by Alfa.lt staff, Alfa.lt)
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Azubalis}}
Category:Members of the Seimas
Category:Ministers of foreign affairs of Lithuania
Category:Journalists from Vilnius
Category:Vilnius University alumni
Category:Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 2nd Class
Category:21st-century Lithuanian politicians
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