President urges swift fixes to defence procurement flaws

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has called for urgent action to address systemic shortcomings in defence procurement after the State Control audit office found that the system was failing to meet the army’s needs, LRT reported.

“Unfortunately, I have to admit that the State Control office has highlighted certain systemic issues that we must fix,” Nausėda told journalists on Friday. He said the audit had not identified a catastrophe, but that the shortcomings it outlined were significant and needed to be corrected as soon as possible.

Nausėda said defence-related projects could not take so long in the current geopolitical situation. He also said it was important for the public that state funds be used efficiently.

The State Control office’s audit of arms and military equipment procurement in the national defence system from 2021 to 2025 found that the share of procurements that did not take place had increased 2.5 times in two years. It said both internal and external factors were preventing the system from meeting the army’s needs on time.

“There is a great deal of disorder here, often resulting either in a lack of clearly defined responsibility or in a very long period from identifying a need to meeting it,” Nausėda said, referring to the army’s needs for ammunition, equipment and other supplies. He called for the decision-making algorithms to be reviewed.

Audit data showed that as funding increased, the share of arms procurements that did not take place rose from 24 percent in 2023 to 59 percent in 2025.

In response to the findings, the Ministry of National Defence plans to submit draft laws to the government in the autumn that would enable arms and military equipment to be procured more quickly.

Lithuania has allocated 5.38 percent of gross domestic product, or about 4.8 billion euros, for defence in this year’s budget. Officials have said the share allocated to defence next year should also be at least 5 percent of GDP.