Freedom Party (Lithuania)

The Freedom Party (Laisvės partija) is a political party in Lithuania, founded on 1 June 2019 and led by former Liberal Movement member Aušrinė Armonaitė.

History
The party has its roots in Vilnius mayor Remigijus Šimašius's list "For Vilnius, which we are proud of!", which won the Lithuanian capital's council and mayoral election. In November 2018 Aušrinė Armonaitė announced intentions to found a new party.

By the summer and autumn of 2019, the party established its branches in cities and their surrounding municipalities.

The party was accepted as a full member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in October 2019. The party saw success in 2020 Lithuanian parliamentary election and obtained 11 seats. After this, the party formed a coalition with the Homeland Union and Liberal Movement and delegated three ministers - Armonaitė, Ewelina Dobrowolska and Marius Skuodis - to the Šimonytė Cabinet.

On 11 December 2021, the Freedom Party officially became a full member of the ALDE Party.

Platform
The Freedom Party is socially liberal and supports legalization of same-sex marriage and recreational marijuana, as well as strengthening of transgender rights in Lithuania. At the same time, it is extremely economically liberal and advocates for pro-business policies such as cutting taxes and loosening the labour code. It supports European integration and recognizing the statehood of Taiwan (Republic of China) as a country separate from the People's Republic of China, and is strongly opposed to Russian aggression in Ukraine. It supports the European Green Deal. It has been described as neoliberal, social liberal, progressive and libertarian.

Within the Šimonytė Cabinet, it criticized its coalition partners, namely the Homeland Union and the Liberal Movement, for insufficient adherence to progressivism, as well as their "left-wing tax policy".