President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite is among potential candidates for president of European Council after her presidential term in 2019, BaltNews.lt reports.
A poll conducted among European officials and experts by VoteWatch Europe revealed that the president of Lithuania is among potential candidates for that post, according to 20% of the polled. Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte was named as potential candidate for European Council president by 25% of the polled.
According to the poll, private sector supports Mark Rutte’s candidature, whereas officials vote for Dalia Grybauskaite. The poll was conducted on March 28 – April 9, 2018 among 1,010 people, including 36% officials, 25% private sector representatives, 11% academicians and experts, 10% European officials working in different countries of EU, 7% employees of NGOs, 5% mass media representatives and 5% other employees.
The poll revealed that Dalia Grybauskaite is a preferable candidate for the conservatives i.e. European People’s Party as well. She is likely to be supported in by Germany, Central and Eastern Europe. Mark Rutte represents European liberals, which means he will enlist the support of relevant parties. The third popular candidate is Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar (13%), the other two are President of Romania Klaus Iohannis and Prime Minister of Italy Paolo Gentiloni.
To recall, Dalia Grybauskaite started as a communist official in the USSR, now she is most known for her irreconcilable and firm anti-Russian stance and insulting statements addressed to Moscow. The mandate of Donald Tusk, the former president of Poland who occupies the post of European Council president for the second time already, will end in November 2019.