Lithuania in the News
27th November 2007
President Adamkus Honoured as European of the Year 2007
President Valdas Adamkus accepting the European of the Year award.
Photo courtesy President of Lithuania website
President Valdas Adamkus of Lithuania was announced as the European of the Year for 2007 at black-tie gala dinner at the Palais d`Egmont in Brussels last Tuesday, 27 November 2007. The European of the Year is main award of the influential weekly "European Voice" and this year it went to President Adamkus from of a field of 50 nominees of European leaders in politics, business and other fields for his efforts in securing agreement on the new European Union Reform Treaty earlier this year.
Accepting his award President Adamkus declared:

"Nothing in the Reform Treaty is more important than the reaffirmation of the principles making 27 different nations into one united European Union: democracy and freedom, respect for human rights and openness, tolerance and solidarity...For 50 years Europe was a hope for peace and progress to many oppressed nations in Central and Eastern Europe. For some of them, including my nation, this hope became a reality. Now it us our duty to keep that hope alive so that the vision of the EU Founding Fathers to have a lasting peace, prosperity and democracy on the continent would finally come true not only for some but to all European nations."

President Valdas Adamkus and EU Commissioner Dalia Grybauskaitė
at the awards ceremony. Photo courtesy President of Lithuania website.
President Adamkus is the first leader of the countries that have recently joined the European Union to have been awarded this honour. In one of the nine other categories Germany’s Angela Merkel was honoured as the Stateswoman of the Year. Last year the European of the Year award went to the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso.
It is not the first time that a Lithuanian had been honoured in the "European Voice" awards. Two years ago Lithuania’s Dalia Grybauskaitė was declared as the EU Commissioner of the Year for "...her unrelenting efforts to shift EU spending towards areas that would enhance competitiveness such as research and development".

Further information: http://www.ev50.com/noflash   www.adamkus.lt    www.lrytas.lt 28/11/07