According to a press release circulated before the conference, the president has brought forward 22 bills, signed 479 laws, and vetoed 11 over the last three years. The Seimas has accepted six presidential vetoes, rejected two, decisions on three presidential vetoes will be made during the Seimas fall session.
The Lithuanian president has also paid 25 foreign visits, and has received the same number of heads and officials of foreign states and international organizations over the period.
Grybauskaitė, 56, was elected Lithuania's president on 17 May 2009, receiving 68 percent of votes in the first round.
Renewable energy still too costly
The Visaginas nuclear power plant project must be transparent and pay for itself over time, President Grybauskaitė said during the press conference, adding that renewable energy is still too costly for the country.
"Lithuania, together with its partners, has to watch to ensure that the project is transparent and beneficial and that it pays for itself," she said.
The president said that it would be too costly for Lithuania to rely on alternative energy resources for its electricity needs.
"For nations such as the Baltic countries and our region, relying on alternative, renewable resources is still a high luxury and (will continue to be so) for the next 10 to 20 years. For the time being, only countries that can afford such luxury and have funds are looking for a replacement to nuclear energy," she said.
Grybauskaitė also said that the Visaginas plant has to be a regional project.
"It is too big for Lithuania alone. Therefore, Hitachi and all investors see it as a regional project," she said.
The president said that it is not clear yet what final form the Visaginas project will take, but promised to do her best to ensure that it is transparent.
"We will see the final project at the end of 2014, in 2015. Certainly, I will watch it to make sure that it is as transparent as possible. And beneficial to Lithuania and the whole region," she said.
Presidential team to expand for EU Presidency
President Grybauskaitė, whose team has been left by two advisers over the last three years and another one is set to leave in the fall, says new people will be hired for the period of the Lithuanian EU Presidency.
"Such an increase, especially in the foreign policy group, will definitely take place when we'll take over the EU Presidency. We'll surely need more people and most probably they will be on temporary contracts or from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or from the reserve the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has for the Presidency period. Perhaps we'll take a couple of people from there. But that will be related to the EU Presidency only," the president said at Thursday's press conference.
Audronė Nugaraitė and Linas Balsys, who led to separate groups of advisers, have left the presidential team since the start of Grybauskaitė's presidential term, and Darius Semaška, currently leading the foreign policy group, is set to be appointed Lithuania's ambassador to the Netherlands in the fall.
"Both the government chancellor and my adviser are professional diplomats, and the rotation time is approaching – diplomats are rotated every three years between Lithuania and foreign countries. So in the fall, when the so-called agrements, acceptances from other states, will start coming in, these two diplomats will be rotated," the president said talking about the careers of Prime Minister's Chancellor Deividas Matulionis and Semaška. The former is set to be appointed Lithuania's ambassador to Germany.
Polish relations
President Grybauskaitė also commented on Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Radoslaw Sikorski's statement that Warsaw was ready for a new opening in relations with Lithuania. According to Grybauskaitė, Sikorski's suggestion contains a lot of conditions for Lithuania.
At the press conference on Thursday, the president stressed she would not comment on statements by politicians from the neighboring country.
"As far as I know, the foreign minister's proposal came in with a lot of conditions for Lithuania. So I would like to respond immediately that there will be no comments. I do not comment on statements by individual Lithuanian politicians, and will not comment on statements by Polish politicians," the president said.
