Budget, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Legislation, Lithuania

In the interview Grybauskaite said that during the six month of the Presidency of the EU Council, Lithuania would like to achieve a lot, yet it is impossible to achieve everything during such a short period. When asked about the difficult issues that are often seen as hot potatoes being passed on from one Presidency to the next, the president said that one of such issues could be the European budget for seven years (2014-2020). "Of course, usually, we want a lot more than we can achieve, because it depends not only on the Presidency but also on all institutions, including the member states, the Parliament, and the Commission, partly", said the president.

Grybauskaite does not think that Lithuania being outside the euro would be sidelined because of it. She reminded that all the main decisions, no matter whether they are decided or pre-decided in the eurozone, need to be confirmed by the then all 28 member states from July 1st ( by that date Croatia will be in the EU). Lithuania's president also said that not only the issue of the euro crisis should be solved since the problem of economic difficulties, including debt, the state debt crisis, is not only in the eurozone. Moreover, she repeated that Lithuania seeked to join the euro area since 2015 since now its currency was already pegged to the euro and Lithuania had "all the obligations of the euro and not all of the rights."

The president promised to talk to Lithuania's people and persuade them that the adoption of the euro would be useful.