VILNIUS – The Lithuanian Culture Ministry has confirmed to BNS that Culture Minister Sarunas Birutis is seeking 1.5 percent of GDP, or more than a billion euros, for his plan to boost the public's information resilience, but has not yet named the sources of funding or specific counter-propaganda measures.
"Yes, there is such an expectation," Ramune Vaiciulyte, the minister's advisor, told BNS last week, when asked whether the minister hopes to secure 1.5 percent of GDP from the planned increase to the defense budget.
According to the advisor, the proposal is currently being discussed with social partners as part of a plan for the implementation of the cultural sector provisions in the government program.
"Discussions with social partners are in their final stages. Summarizing and further coordination at the government level, between ministries and so on, will now follow. The official deadline for completing coordination is set for early March," she said.
Once the cultural policy implementation plan is submitted for discussion in the government, decisions will be made regarding the next steps, the necessity, and funding.
"For now, it is too early to say how much, how and from what sources the share of funds should be calculated, or under which institution's responsibility it should fall," Vaiciulyte said.
However, the advisor noted that information resilience and the cultural policy that fosters it are "an integral part of national defense and must be included in this agenda".
Birutis first unveiled the goal of allocating 1.5 percent of GDP for boosting public resilience earlier this month during an LRT TV program.
The minister believes that these funds should come from the defense budget, which Lithuania aims to increase to 5-6 percent of GDP in the coming years.
Official statistics showed last week that Lithuania's GDP grew by 2.6 percent to 77.8 billion euros last year. One and a half percent of GDP, which Birutis aims for, would amount to around 1.1 billion euros.
Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas told reporters at the start of last week that the government "will be able to consider the proposal, among others", but added that he did not see the need for such funding for soft power.
"I believe there are more pressing issues in the field of culture than trying to spend 1.5 percent of GDP on some kind of counter-propaganda measures," he said.
Simonas Kairys, Birutis' predecessor as culture minister, criticized the goal. In an article published by Delfi on Thursday, the Liberal MP argued that the need for such funding is "vague".
"Those who have not yet understood what a monster Russia and its culture are will never understand. Not even for a billion," he said.
The cultural part of the program of the coalition government of the Social Democrats, the Democrats and the Nemunas Dawn party aims to "develop the soft power of culture in the fields of defense and civic awareness" and to increase the public's information literacy.
The Cabinet vows to develop a targeted policy for combating disinformation, promote historical narratives that counter the aggressors' manipulations, and ensure that the protection of cultural values and preparedness for possible threats are included in the national defense strategy.
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