Position: Prime Minister of Lithuania
Incumbent: Andrius Kubilius
Date of birth: Dec. 8, 1956
Term: Appointed on Nov. 27, 2008, for the second time, after his Homeland Union/Lithuanian Christian Democrats (HU/LCD) won a national election and formed a coalition government with liberal parties. The next election is due in October 2012.
Key facts:
-- Kubilius had little time to enjoy the election victory as his government had immediately to deal with a ballooning deficit and an economic crisis.
-- He led the government in 1999-2000 when Lithuania had to deal with aftermath of the Russian crisis -- when a Russian devaluation deprived Lithuania of its mainstay export market and sent the economy into recession -- earning him the title of "crisis prime minister".
-- For the past two years his main task has been to drive the public sector budget deficit down, to raise capital on international markets and to keep the national currency, the litas, pegged to the euro.
-- Lithuania pledged to cut its budget deficit to 3 percent of gross domestic product by 2012 to be able to adopt the euro in 2014.
-- In 2012, the deficit is seen at 5.8 percent of GDP.
The government opted for drastic wage and price cuts to avoid a devaluation, while also rejecting calls to ask for help from the International Monetary Fund, as neighbouring Latvia did.
-- His government has been also pursuing an ambitious plan to build a new nuclear power plant by 2020 to cut energy dependence on Russia, but the only bidder, the South Korean company KEPCO, has pulled out of the tender.
-- Kubilius is an ardent cyclist, who can often be seen during vacations riding a tandem with his wife, who plays violin at the national symphonic orchestra.