Lithuanians in the news
18th December, 2005
Lithuania’s Dalia Grybauskaitë EU Commissioner of the Year
Dalia Grybauskaitë
Lithuania’s Dalia Grybauskaitë, since her appointment as European Union’s Commissioner for Budget and Financial Planning over a year ago, has been making her mark in the European Union’s corridors of power. At the recent Europeans of the Year Awards ceremony Dalia Grybauskaitë was declared as the EU Commissioner of the Year. The ceremony took place at a black-tie dinner at the Palais d’Egmont in Brussels on November 29, 2005. Dalia Grybauskaitë had been nominated for "her unrelenting efforts to shift EU spending towards areas that would enhance competitiveness such as research and development".
The nominations had been put up by a special commission of the independent weekly "European Voice" in middle of last November and the voting was by readers of "European Voice". For Commissioner of the Year there were five nominations, with Dalia Grybauskaitë being the only one from the new EU member countries and the only woman. Other winners included Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker as European of the Year, Poland’s Aleksander Kwasniewski as EU Statesman of the Year and Ukraine’s Viktor Yushchenko as non-EU citizen of the Year.

Sources: "Europen Voice" www.ev50.com , "Lietuvos Rytas" 30/11/05