Photographer: Hasse Ferrold

"Among other matters, we talked about the challenges facing a small country that will be taking up the EU Presidency at a time of crisis when all member states are committed to rigid, restrictive economic policies. We also touched on the importance of maintaining good relations with neighbouring countries and how, in our case, these relations thrive thanks to the excellent cooperation between the Nordic countries and the Baltic states", said the Speaker of the Danish Parliament, Mogens Lykketoft, after their meeting.

Dalia Grybauskaité has been the President of Lithuania since May 2009, when she became Lithuania’s first female head of state in a direct election. She won a landslide victory and enjoys extensive popular support.

In 1994, she was chief negotiator in connection with Lithuania’s EU accession negotiations and subsequently became the country’s ambassador to the United States. She then returned to Lithuania where she held a number of ministerial posts, including that of Minister of Finance, before she was appointed EU Commissioner with responsibility for the budget in 2004.

Lithuania will hold the EU Presidency for the first time during the second half year of 2013.