Who is D.Miniataitė, I.Šimonytė’s candidate to become Minister of Agriculture? | Deal

“I really didn’t think I would become a minister, especially since there are usually a lot of those candidates, both willing and different.”15 minutes said D. Miniataitė, who has worked in the Ministry for almost thirty years.

He has known I. Šimonytė since they were both civil servants. During the last decade, they were simultaneous secretaries of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Finance, so they had to attend joint meetings.

15 minutes To the best of his knowledge, I. Šimonytė also asked the conservative Kazys Starkevičius, former Minister of Agriculture and now a member of the Seimas, his opinion on the proposed candidate. While working as a minister, D. Miniataitė was the Chancellor of the Ministry. K.Starkevičius, by the way, was also mentioned among the candidates.

The candidacy of D.Miniataitė was the last one to the Cabinet of Ministers formed by I.Šimonytė. Still, it doesn’t seem to be the worst.

But especially from the beginning.

A quiet childhood, a sudden rush

D. Miniataitė was born in Kaunas, but moved to Vilnius with his family when he was four years old, when his parents found new jobs in agriculture.

“I had a very beautiful, peaceful and good childhood, I had loving grandparents and parents, and a really good life, regardless of the aspects of life in the Soviet regime,” he said. “I have not experienced injuries or shocks, I lived that childhood as a child without any problem.”

She studied very well at the then 22 secondary school in Vilnius, she was busy with something else: she actively played handball and sang in the Liepaičiai choir.

Dalia has always been more energetic and aspiring.

At first, D. Miniataitė did not intend to follow in his parents’ footsteps. Her parents wanted to see her as a doctor, but after school, the girl decided to study according to her hobbies and entered economic geography at Vilnius University.

And yet agriculture soon arrived.

D. Miniataitė decided to write his diploma thesis on the natural and economic conditions in Lithuania that form the specialization of collective farms in Lithuania.

“It just came to our knowledge then. Then I realized that I wanted to be a scientist, in 1989 I was assigned to the Lithuanian Institute of Agricultural Economics, where I was a junior associate researcher and studied at the graduate level,” she recalled.

During his studies and the first year of work, D. Miniataitė also managed to participate in the activities of the Sąjūdis: he contributed to the preparation of the first congress, publishing a small patriotic wall newspaper and other works not described on the Internet.

His colleague at the Lithuanian Institute of Agrarian Economics Irena Krikščiukaitienė says that D. Miniatait stood “stood out with infinite energy, was at the forefront of his mind and everywhere.”

“I have lived at the institute for 50 years, and Dalia has always been more energetic and aspiring,” said an institute principal investigator.

Apparently, it is natural that D. Miniataitė does not stay here; In 1992 he got a job at the Ministry of Agriculture.

The specialist invited to the Department of Cross-Border Relations understood the future work as an obligation for Lithuania, which had regained its independence.

“The state needed people, especially those who also speak foreign languages,” he said.

I tried everything

At the Ministry of Agriculture, where D. Miniataitė still works, he had to fill many positions and obtained a leadership position in the third year of his work at the institution.

Without a doubt, she was a prophet of that European wind that rested in the Ministry of Agriculture.

Meanwhile, the period 1996-2001 was one of the most interesting for D. Miniataitė in his professional career; later, he headed the department responsible for the integration of Lithuania into the European Union.

Petras Auštrevičius, the lead negotiator for Lithuania’s membership in the community, remembers his sense of humor, but most of all: his toughness in negotiation, broad approach and solid principles, attention to detail.

“At that time, the Ministers of Agriculture were changing one after another and certainly not all of them had a deep understanding of the matter, so Dalia was the guarantor of the stability that allowed us to go through a period of all that political change. “… She was undoubtedly a prophet of that European wind that rested in the Ministry of Agriculture,” said a former diplomat who now works in the European Parliament.

“I wish there were more of these people in the civil service. Dalia is definitely the exception rather than the rule,” he added.

Moving up the professional ladder, D. Miniataitė later worked as Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Secretary of the Ministry, and in 2009 he became Chancellor of the Ministry.

She herself says that she has never been a careerist.

“He was often in place and on time, but of course he had some talents. I never asked for a career, she came to me herself ”, said D. Miniataitė.

As chancellor, he has worked with five ministers and three governments.

“He is a great professional in his field. Working in the ministry since time immemorial, she has known almost everything in this field, ”said Vigilijus Jukna, an“ employee ”currently working as a member of Seimas, who served as Minister of Agriculture in 2012-2014.

“He is a specific person who has a strong opinion, learns to defend it with arguments, listens to other people’s arguments. It was very easy to work with her on the team, “he said.

D. Miniataitė herself recalls that she did not like the Chancellor’s work very much.

“It is such a dry job, but there were challenges, it took a couple of years to work from the shoulder to fix administrative and procedural matters,” said the candidate for the head of the ministry.

After ten years in the position of chancellor, he resigned in 2019, when the position was converted into a political trust. She continues to be the Senior Advisor to the Ministry.

He is demanding but is able to politely say what he expects.

Vita Tilvikienė, who works at the Lithuanian Center for Agricultural Sciences and Forests, has recently had many contacts with D. Miniataitė during a research project on the use of alternative biomass.

The researcher said that the potential minister does not lack a broad approach and that scientific arguments are very important to her in discussions and decision-making.

“He really is a very tactful and business person. He is demanding, but he can politely say what he expects, ”said V. Tilvikienė.

Employees don’t

D. Miniataitė says that the Minister of Agriculture I. Šimonytė offered to be her already after the Seimas elections.

As the first strategic objective, it mentions the objective of agriculture to generate more added value, since Lithuania is already receiving reproaches from the European Commission for receiving a large amount of European funds, and there is no progress in the sector.

According to her, another key challenge is planning how exactly to use EU support to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The agricultural sector is one of the most polluting in this regard.

The ministerial candidate said that the state will face a great challenge to help farmers survive the fight against climate change, because investment in Campo Verde will not by itself yield a short-term return.

“Farms will be vulnerable for a while. You don’t have to look at it sadly, it’s an opportunity, but not everything can happen overnight,” said D. Miniataitė.

“The state must help companies survive this period.” The fight against climate change does not have to be just something strange, “he added.

The candidate claims that to achieve the “ringing” of food chains, that is, to use as much waste as possible in agriculture and the food industry.

If I take office and they appoint me, I will certainly not terrorize people again, because they have suffered enough during these four years.

She also emphasizes the need to preserve the town, but at the same time recognizes that it is disappearing naturally.

Speaking of the situation in the ministry itself, D. Miniataitė emphasizes that the new minister will have to deal with the negative consequences of the institution’s reforms in recent years, when departmental management was abandoned and some departments were moved to Kaunas.

“In my personal opinion, that reform was a tragedy and the ministry is really unmotivated,” he said. “If I take office and they appoint me, I will definitely no longer terrify people, because they have suffered enough during these four years.”

“I don’t think we should start working on streaming people.” It will be necessary to find ways to refocus and motivate them ”, said D. Miniataitė.

He would like to bring a dog to the ministry.

D. Miniataitė said that his life has become brighter recently: more free time has appeared after leaving the Chancellor’s office, the COVID-19 pandemic has also reduced the workload.

She is interested in landscaping and vegetation in general, tries to read a lot, is a fan of classical music, loves to travel.

Even before the quarantine, D. Miniataitė acquired a dog. She dreamed of it her entire career, but due to the abundance of work, she did not believe in her ability to properly care for her pet.

Won’t it interfere with the new position?

“Sure, it’ll interfere a bit, but maybe we’ll do animal days at the ministry,” he laughed. “It should be my pleasure.”