President Dalia Grybauskaitė met with the candidate on Wednesday and interviewed her in English, having previously stated that command of foreign languages would be among key criteria in assessing candidates' suitability.
The Labor Party's leader Viktor Uspaskich told BNS he would no comment on the presidium decisions on candidates and their suitability for the posts "until her excellency gives her verdict."
"We proposed more candidates, as you know, I hope the president will pick the best one," Uspaskich told BNS on Wednesday.
Pabedinskienė, 47, was born in Liepaja, Latvia, she has a degree in construction engineering and defended a master's degree in management and business administration at Kaunas University of Technology in 2005. Over the past years, she was a lecturer at Marijampolė College, the administrator of the Marijampolė branch of Kaunas Chamber of Trade, Industry and Crafts, reads her application submitted to the Central Electoral Commission.
In 2009, Pabedinskienė was the Labor Party's candidate to the European Parliament.
Grybauskaitė spoke English during her meeting with Pabedinskienė.
Pabedinskienė confirmed that the conversation was held in English and centered on social security problems.
“It was a business-like conversation about social challenges both in Europe and in Lithuania,” she told the reporters after the meeting, which lasted for about 30 minutes, without providing any details.
Pabedinskienė claimed that her experience in social issues was sufficient.
“Well, since I represent both business and the youth, I think that these two areas are definitely related with social policy,” the candidate said. She would not take any other questions.
The candidate has stated in her CV that she speaks Latvian, Russian, Polish, and English.
