Speculation grows over Grybauskaite plans

VILNIUS - While Lithuania prepares to host the EU Presidency, speculation swirls as to Grybauskaite’s future plans on a bigger stage.
The post of the president of Lithuania is more real to Grybauskaite than that of European Union leader, says political scientist Lauras Bielinis at Vytautas Magnus University.
“Lithuania’s presidential election is a real chance and her victory would be likely, while becoming the president of the EU is like the flight of a crane - somewhere very high up in the sky. [It’s only that] some people started talking about it for no real reason,” the expert said on the national radio on April 23.

President of European Economic and Social Committee Henri Malosse, during his visit to Lithuania on Monday, said that Grybauskaite, on the EU backstage, is already called “the future EU president.” On his Twitter page he wrote that “the meeting with the future EU president was promising.”

Grybauskaite so far has not said if she is going to run for the president’s post again. The election to the post of the EU president will be held in November 2014. Lithuania’s presidential election is in May 2014.
The majority of Lithuanians, meanwhile, would like to see incumbent President Grybauskaite running the state again. As a preferable candidate she was named by 29 percent of those who took part in a public poll.

The poll by market research company Baltijos Tyrimai for ELTA was carried out on March 16-26. Participants where not presented with a list of public figures: they instead had to name candidates themselves. The list in total had 46 different names of public figures.

Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius came second after the president.