NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg praised the leadership of Dalia Grybauskaitė as the former Lithuanian president was awarded the Manfred Wörner Medal in a ceremony in Vilnius on Monday (26 June 2023). Mr Stoltenberg pointed to her leadership on reducing Lithuania's dependence on Russian energy, raising Lithuanian defence spending, and welcoming a multinational NATO battlegroup in the country.
Saying that Grybauskaitė "embodies the courage to stand up against oppression and for freedom", he added that she "works hard, with passion and determination to make NATO stronger and all of us safer" - just like former Secretary General Manfred Wörner. The medal bearing his name was awarded for contributions to peace and freedom in Europe by the German defence minister Boris Pistorius.
