Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys criticised NATO members that are not increasing defence spending, calling the lack of investment a fundamental problem for the alliance.
“I see that defence spending in Europe is not increasing. I see that the situation is being massaged, powdered, and there is talk about political will to allegedly ensure autonomy, which is just enough,” Budrys told BNS in an interview.
The minister insisted that governments must translate political commitments into concrete funding and defence industry orders.
“We need hard currency, we need to show needs to businesses and place orders,” he said. “Then we will solve another problem – that businesses cannot keep up with production because there are no production lines.”
“These are big challenges, but the unwillingness to increase defence spending is the main fundamental problem,” Budrys added.
At last year’s NATO Hague Summit, alliance members pledged to allocate at least 5% of their GDP to military and defence-related spending by 2035. The spending target is divided into two parts: 3.5% of GDP for direct defence needs and 1.5% for related projects such as military mobility.
Lithuania plans to allocate 5.38% of its GDP to hard defence this year. Some other NATO members are still maintaining the previous 2% threshold and have not moved quickly to raise spending.
“I have tried almost everything from my repertoire,” Budrys said. “All that is left is naming and shaming, nailing it like on a street bulletin board.”
He added that alliance commitments should be taken seriously.
“If we commit to dying for each other, how can we not fulfil the promise to ensure that it is not necessary? Because that is deterrence,” the minister said.
NATO members began increasing defence spending more rapidly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
