Dalia Grybauskaite, the president of Lithuania, is intent on governments balancing their books. And she stands firm on the principle that the euro – into which she is committed to bringing her country – will not survive without much more eurozone governmental collaboration.
Ms Grybauskaite is frank about Lithuania’s failure by the narrowest of margins – 0.10% – to reach the inflation target to qualify for entry into the eurozone when it was first mooted in 2007. She admits that shortly after the failure to join the currency the inflationary pressures increased unexpectedly, distancing the country further from the target for control of inflation.
