Arvydas Juozaitis (born 18 April 1956 in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

) is a

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

n writer, philosopher, politician, cultural worker and former

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

who won a bronze medal in the 100 meter

breaststroke Breaststroke is a human swimming, swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and ...

at the

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

. In 1988, he was a member of the

Sąjūdis The Sąjūdis (, ), initially known as the Reform Movement of Lithuania (), is a political organisation which led the struggle for Lithuanian independence in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was established on 3 June 1988 as the first oppositi ...

Initiative Group. He was registered as a candidate for

2019 Lithuanian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Lithuania on 12 May 2019, with a second round held on 26 May 2019. Due to a constitutional limit of two terms in office, incumbent president Dalia Grybauskaitė was unable to run, having won the 2009 and 2014 ...

Political positions

Juozaitis is opposed to

European integration European integration is the process of political, legal, social, regional and economic integration of states wholly or partially in Europe, or nearby. European integration has primarily but not exclusively come about through the European Union ...

and proposes a "Europe of nations", but supports

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

. He opposes

dual citizenship Multiple citizenship (or multiple nationality) is a person's legal status in which a person is at the same time recognized by more than one sovereign state, country under its nationality law, nationality and citizenship law as a national or cit ...

. Answering questions on important political topics sent to presidential candidates by the program "Mano Balsas" (Lithuanian: ''My Voice''), organized by the

Vilnius University Vilnius University ( Lithuanian: ''Vilniaus universitetas'') is a public research university, which is the first and largest university in Lithuania, as well as one of the oldest and most prominent higher education institutions in Central and Ea ...

Institute of International Relations and Political Science, Juozaitis assumes interventionist positions on the economy, in favor of

progressive taxation A progressive tax is a tax in which the tax rate increases as the taxable amount increases. The term ''progressive'' refers to the way the tax rate progresses from low to high, with the result that a taxpayer's average tax rate is less than the ...

and

publicly funded healthcare Publicly funded healthcare is a form of health care financing designed to meet the cost of all or most healthcare needs from a publicly managed fund. Usually this is under some form of democratic accountability, the right of access to which are se ...

, but also described homosexuality as a "social experiment" and a "fad". Juozaitis supports strengthening Lithuania's ties with

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

and teaching the

Latvian language Latvian (, ), also known as Lettish, is an East Baltic languages, East Baltic language belonging to the Indo-European language family. It is spoken in the Baltic region, and is the language of the Latvians. It is the official language of Latvia ...

in Lithuanian schools, and formation of a Lithuanian-Latvian

confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

. He also supported a Lithuanian partnership with the

Law and Justice Law and Justice ( , PiS) is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative List of political parties in Poland, political party in Poland. The party is a member of European Conservatives and Refo ...

government in Poland against the European Union.

References

1956 births 21st-century Lithuanian politicians Lithuanian male writers 20th-century Lithuanian philosophers Lithuanian male breaststroke swimmers Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic bronze medalists in swimming Olympic swimmers for Lithuania Olympic swimmers for the Soviet Union Politicians from Vilnius Swimmers from Vilnius Swimmers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Vilnius University alumni Writers from Vilnius Living people Independent politicians in Lithuania Soviet male breaststroke swimmers 21st-century Lithuanian philosophers {{Lithuania-swimming-bio-stub