European leaders' stance on defense funding has completely changed - Lithuanian defmin

VILNIUS - European leaders' position on defense funding has completely changed, with countries in the continent planning to significantly increase spending on national defense, Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene said on Monday.

"The position on defense funding has completely changed. Previously, the closer a country was to Russia's border, the more it recognized the need to boost defense spending. But now, no one in the room is even mentioning 2 percent anymore," she told reporters in Vilnius after returning from last weekend's Munich Security Conference in Germany.

According to Sakaliene, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told European leaders that even 3 percent of GDP for defense is no longer enough.

"It will be a significantly higher number than 3 percent, and no one objected. The other thing is that it will have to be done right away, without delay, very quickly," she said.

Sakaliene noted that it is still unclear what defense spending target European nations will seek.

"The percentage hasn't been decided yet. These talks are moving very quickly now," the minister said.

"What is clear is that bureaucratic restrictions will need to be reduced. As we heard, it was Germany that said in Munich that the Maastricht criteria should not apply to defense," she added.

Sakaliene expects joint European decisions on the urgent investment of hundreds of millions of euros in protecting NATO's borders to be made "in the near future".

"Certain decisions on what the principles of joint financing will look like should start moving before (NATO's) Hague summit," the minister said.

"I think we'll have to adopt certain decisions this year so that we can have them in effect as early as in 2026," she added.

Sakaliene also announced plans to visit Washington, DC, in early March.

"The Americans want us to act fast and efficiently in terms of financial and political decisions and cooperation. I informed US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about what additional capabilities we could accommodate if they decided to move some forces within Europe," the minister said.

"I won't go into details, but we're ready to host additional land and air force units," she added.

Sakaliene said that the US is not planning to abandon its NATO allies, but it "won't tolerate an imbalance in defense funding".