Grybauskaite stands for head of state

European Budget Commissioner Dalia Grybauskaite says she will run for president of her homeland Lithuania. The election’s first round is in May. Opinion polls show her to be the Baltic state’s best-liked politician.

Grybauskaite joined the European Commission in 2004, when Lithuania became an EU member. She had served as finance minister in Vilnius, with degrees from Georgetown University in Washington DC and Zdanov in Leningrad. She is also a judo blackbelt. In a speech announcing her readiness to stand for presidential office, the 52-year-old said she wanted to help create a public-spirited Lithuania.

Copyright © 2012 euronews