VILNIUS - EU-level decisions on defense financing instruments are needed today, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda says.
"I think what we need today is the instruments on the European Union level, and not to wait until 2028, because 2028, the next multi-annual financial perspective, will be too late to take the defense and security issues into account," he told reporters in Brussels ahead of an informal meeting of EU leaders.
Nauseda believes that the European bloc needs decisions on common borrowing for defense and a more flexible approach to deficits caused by borrowing for national defense. Nauseda is also in favor of expanding the European Investment Bank's mandate.
Lithuania is seeking joint borrowing to step up defense funding In January, the country's State Defense Council set a target to allocate 5-6 percent of its GDP on national defense between 2026 and 2030, with the aim of developing a national division within its army.
"Other measures could be helpful in finding necessary decisions not tomorrow but today," Nauseda said.
He called EU leaders to look at how decisions were made when dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and its aftermath.
"We need such decision-making mechanisms today," the Lithuanian leader said.
EU leaders are meting following Donald Trump's return to the White House. The latter says NATO countries should spend 5 percent of their GDP on defense. However, some European countries says this would be an economic burden, with countries on NATO's eastern flank, including Lithuania, saying that such a target is necessary.
"We need the United States on our side. I cannot imagine how we could deter Russian aggression without the United States," Nauseda said, adding that the EU also needs to switch to "a positive economic agenda" with the United States.
"We can buy more LNG from the United States, like my country is doing right now. (...) The procurement of military equipment from the United States is another possible form of cooperation with the United States," the Lithuanian leader said. "This creates a constructive and not destructive economic agenda."
Lithuania is the largest buyer of US arms among the Baltic states, with its medium-term purchases from the US valued at 1.3 billion US dollars, accounting for almost 20 percent of the country's total acquisitions.
Lithuania buys Javelin anti-tank missile systems, JLTV armored all-terrain vehicles, Black Hawk helicopters, HIMARS rocket artillery systems, AMRAAM missiles for NASAMS medium-range air defense systems, Switchblade drones and other weapons from the US.
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