Margarita Starkevičiūtė, graduated in economics at the Vilnius University, in 1978. She also obtained a PhD in social sciences with a specialization in economics at this university.
From 1979 to 1988, Margarita Starkevičiūtė worked as chief expert at the State Institute of Services and Publications. Between 1990 and 1995 she was a specialist and advisor for foreign investments, successively in the Ministry of Healthcare, in the Ministry of Agriculture and then in the Ministry of Construction and Urban Development. Later, she headed the Department of Market Analyses and a research group at the National Stock Exchange. She worked also as a lecturer at the University of Warsaw.
In 2004, Starkevičiūtė was elected to the European Parliament from the list of the Association of Liberals and the Center in Lithuania and she remained as an MEP until 2009. During that period she was member of the Committee on Budgetary Control, member of the Committee on Budgetary Control, member of the Delegation for relations with Japan, member of the Delegation for relations with Japan, member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and member of the Delegation for relations with Japan.