The Minister of Culture of Lithuania Simonas Kairys, Deputy Minister Daina Urbanavičienė and Ambassador Lina Rukštelienė visited the Institute of European Regions (IRE) for an exchange of views.

Salzburg. “Culture needs to be thought of much more broadly,” emphasized Simonas Kairys, the Minister of Culture of Lithuania since 2020, during his visit to the IRE on Tuesday, August 20, 2024. Together with Vice Minister Daina Urbanavičienė and Ambassador Lina Rukštelienė, the Lithuanian delegation was in Salzburg, met with the deputy state governor responsible for culture, Stefan Schnöll, and visited the current European Capital of Culture, Bad Ischl. In a conversation with IRE chairman Franz Schausberger, Minister Kairys explained the cultural policy approach he and his team are pursuing: Culture must be linked to all topics be it, for example, culture with geopolitics, culture with health issues or culture with ecology. Within the framework of a culture policy framework, culture is now thought of much more broadly and is decentralized. Areas in which a certain "old" more centralized system still prevailed have been opened up . A highlight for Lithuania as a cultural nation was also in 2022, when the city of Kaunas was European Capital of Culture.

Another point that Minister Kairys implemented during his term of office was media reform. He is particularly interested in the government's distance from public broadcasting and free reporting. Free media is also a European value that needs to be protected and with which Europe also differs from other systems. How culture is an important value in general. The minister was proud that the Lithuanian government also brought up the topic of supporting culture in Ukraine as an important area for strengthening democracy at the Ukraine Peace Conference in Switzerland.

Emphasizing the importance of the local level and thanking the IRE for its work in this area was also important to the minister, as both Minister Simonas Kairys (former deputy mayor of Kaunas) and deputy minister Daina Urbanavičienė (former member of the Vilnius Municipal Council) themselves have strong roots in local politics.

The Lithuanian delegation was pleased about the friendly connection between the state of Salzburg and the Institute of European Regions (IRE) with Lithuania: IRE chairman Franz Schausberger was the head of the only delegation approved by the Soviets in 1990 during the first free elections in Lithuania since the occupation Election observation mission. There are also partnerships between the state of Salzburg and Lithuania (since 1970) and between the city of Salzburg and the Lithuanian capital.

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With Arnoldas Abramavičius, the deputy. Minister of the Interior, will also be represented at a high level at the 20th Salzburg Europe Summit.