We have decision on army needs, not on percentages – Lithuanian parlt speaker

VILNIUS - There's currently no document on the goal of increasing defense spending, Seimas Speaker Saulius Skvernelis says, adding that the State Defense Council only agreed to look for additional funds to satisfy the army's needs.

"We don’t have a document on the agreement to significantly increase defense spending, but we have the SDC decision, signed by all participants, where it was decided to look for funds and to approve the army's expressed need for additional funds," the Seimas speaker told reporters at the Seimas.

Earlier, Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas expressed a similar position when he said after the coalition council's Monday meeting that there's no agreement on allocating 5-6 percent of GDP on for defense "anywhere, in any document, neither in the government program, nor in the coalition (agreement - BNS)".

President Gitanas Nauseda announced the need to spend 5-6 percent of GDP on defense in 2026-2030 in January after the SDC meeting.

According to Skvernelis, in order to speed up defense funding, the focus should be on capabilities, not percentages.

"Today, we are talking about reaching 5 percent or 6 percent. This is a wrong message that has been spread from the very beginning. Today, we talked about the need for certain armaments costing between 12 and 14 billion euros, and that timeframe that was foreseen some time ago, but the situation in Ukraine forces us to bring it forward," Skvernelis said.

For his part, the prime minister said earlier that the government was looking for sources of funding to meet that need.

"And e have a common view of the president and the coalition that this funding cannot come solely in the form of taxes on Lithuanian businesses or the Lithuanian people. Therefore, finding those financing instruments is the task the government is working on today," Paluckas said.

According to Skvernelis, this is the reason why the Seimas is set to hold a closed session in mid-March where a threat assessment will be presented.

The Seimas speaker says it will be "an educational meeting to facilitate decision-making".

Lithuania is seeking to raise additional funds to push defense funding to 5-6 percent of GDP to be able to establish a national division by 2030 and to be ready to receive the planned German brigade.