Business calling for increased defense spending is calling for a review of the National Defense Agreement

As the ELTA news agency announced on Monday, April 29, more than 51.6 thousand people have already signed the “4 percent” initiative. of individuals encouraging politicians to agree to increase defense spending. The Speaker of the Seimas herself confirms that she received the media with the signatories.

“4 percent is, of course, the target. It will take some time for us to reach it. The direction is necessary because we understand that the security situation remains dangerous. Now is the time when politicians should clearly outline that direction and simply respond to the public’s expectation, which I think is very clearly expressed”, V. Čmilytė-Nielsen emphasized to “Eltai” after meeting with the representatives of the initiative on Thursday.

The chairman of the Liberal movement also assured that she did not discuss the Freedom Party or other specific proposals regarding the financing of defense costs with the representatives of the initiative. According to her, these measures to increase defense funds should be considered in a separate discussion.

“I would like to take a step back from concrete proposals, because in this case we are talking about ambition, about a goal,” she commented.

Businesses are pushing to agree on an increase in defense spending in particular

LVK president A. Romanovskis also emphasized that the business provides the “4 percent” initiative as a tool to agree on greater defense funding, but not as proposals for specific sources of income.

“When Lithuania was on its way to independence, different political forces had different visions, but everyone agreed that independence is the goal. Our expectation is the same, that everyone would agree that the goal is 4 percent (of GDP – ELTA), and already then political parties, either in their programs or after the elections, could name how they will achieve that goal,” explained A. Romanovskis.

According to him, LVK expressed the expectation that, after the Speaker of the Seimas initiates the review of the National Agreement on Defense, it will include the goal of achieving 4 percent of GDP for defense.

“The pressure here is to agree on a goal. And as the political parties will see, the whole palette is there – from borrowing to tax changes, but if there is no agreement on the goal, how can you discuss these things”, said A. Romanovskis.

According to the head of the business confederation, the lack of concrete proposals for additional sources of funds also creates obstacles to achieving the 4 percent of GDP goal proposed by the business.

“We have not seen any specific proposals. When there are concrete proposals, then we will respond to them concretely. Now it is a kind of jumble of ideas, statements. Very different political parties have very different visions, different institutions, ministries have different visions. This is partly even detrimental to our goal of 4%. agree, because then we won’t agree on anything”, emphasized A. Romanovskis.

“This is no longer a business initiative, it is 50 thousand. citizens’ initiative, and we have the right to expect and tell politicians as a society that they must agree on a goal. And everyone will be able to come with their own ideas when going to the elections or in the meeting hall, and society will discuss what it supports,” he added.

For her part, V. Čmilytė-Nielsen assured that the parties have already reached a political consensus that 3 percent. are necessary for defense against GDP, and 4 percent the goal, she says, is just an “ambition” for now.

“Perhaps it did not sound formalized, but even without a separate discussion, it is obvious that we must aim for 3%. from the GDP to defense and that this is such a working goal”, emphasized the head of the Seimas.

It is true that, according to her, specific agreements on financing mechanisms may be complicated by the election period, but further meetings of the representatives of the initiative with representatives of both ruling and opposition parties could facilitate this process.

According to A. Romanovskis, the “4 percent” initiative was invited to meet Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonyte in the coming weeks.