Tomas Tomilinas

Tomas Tomilinas (born 22 April 1983) is a Lithuanian trade unionist and politician of Polish origin. He was elected to the Seimas with the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union in 2016, but was expelled from the party in 2021 and joined the Union of Democrats "For Lithuania".

Background
Tomilinas was born in Vilnius in 1983 to a Polish mother and Russian father. He graduated from Vilnius University with a bachelor's degree in political science in 2005 and from Mykolas Romeris University with a master's degree in public administration in 2007.

He helped establish the Trade Union of Commercial Workers (Lithuanian: Prekybos darbuotojų profesinė sąjunga) in 2007. He was one of the founding members of the Social Investment Management Centre, a public organization which promotes trade unions, education on ecology and climate change, socially responsible investing, and human rights, and a founder of the left-wing progressive think-tank DEMOS.

He has been married twice. He met his second wife, Kristina Juozapavičiūtė, in their political party.

Political career
Tomilinas joined the Union of Peasants and New Democratic Parties, the predecessor of the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union, in 2002. In 2010, he established the Greens Group within the party (then still known as the Peasant Popular Union).

He was an assistant to Member of the Seimas Laima Mogenienė from 2004 to 2008 and assistant to Member of the Seimas Antanas Baura from 2008 to 2012. From 2012 to 2016, he was head of the office of European Parliament member Bronius Ropė. He was also a coordinator of the 2012 Lithuanian nuclear power referendum. In the 2016 Lithuanian parliamentary election, he ran in the Paneriai constituency, but lost to Linas Balsys. However, he entered parliament through the party's multi-member constituency list. He became the deputy chair of the Seimas Social Affairs and Labour Committee.

In 2017, he proposed blocking the Lithuanian Free Market Institute from sending letters to members of the Seimas. He came in conflict with his party over taxation reform in 2018 and his proposal to introduce a 20 percent VAT rate on personal income from capital, which was opposed by the rest of the party. He proposed establishing a five percent quota for disabled persons in public institutions in 2018.

Tomilinas was reelected in the 2020 Lithuanian parliamentary election in the constituency of Deltuva north, which includes the town of Anykščiai and surrounding regions. His relationship with the rest of the party became tense after the election as it turned towards the right, proclaiming its alignment with family values and opposing expansion of LGBT rights in Lithuania. After Tomilinas voted in favor of same-sex partnerships in 2021, he was removed from all of his positions in the party. He joined the Democrats Parliamentary Group, led by Saulius Skvernelis and formed from former members of LVŽS, in September 2021. The group established the Union of Democrats "For Lithuania" in 2022.