Čmilytė-Nielsen says defence spending is not becoming capability fast enough

Liberal Movement leader Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen has criticised Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas, saying large sums allocated to defence are not being converted into military capabilities quickly enough, LRT reported.

“I reproach Minister Kaunas because large sums in the budget are not turning into capabilities as they should,” Čmilytė-Nielsen said on Friday in an interview with Žinių radijas.

She said the institutions responsible for developing defence capabilities, including the Defence Resources Agency, lacked staff, experts and management capacity. She also pointed to vacant deputy minister positions at the Ministry of National Defence.

According to Čmilytė-Nielsen, Kaunas is currently overseeing the strengthening of defence capabilities and procurement himself because the relevant position in his team remains unfilled.

She said future assessments of current decisions could raise questions about how defence funding had been used. “It will be very strange if record amounts were allocated from the budget but there was not enough management capacity to use them properly,” she said.

Čmilytė-Nielsen also said Lithuania was moving too slowly on air defence following several drone incidents. She said the country should not become complacent after successfully shooting down one drone, but should instead strengthen its readiness for possible new threats.

Kaunas said during a meeting with the Liberal Movement parliamentary group on September 10 that the Defence Resources Agency was being reformed. Procedures were being changed, the procurement process was being accelerated and new staff were being sought. He said the agency was looking for a dozen or more specialists and could seek assistance from relevant military units while the recruitment process continued.

The minister also said that, since September 1, all Ministry of National Defence procurements had been planned in one system to enable faster data organisation and analysis.

A State Audit Office review found that the share of failed arms and military equipment procurements rose from 24 percent in 2023 to 59 percent last year. Auditors attributed this to changing needs, unprepared operational requirements, suppliers failing to submit offers on time and prices deemed unacceptable by contracting authorities.

The audit also found that decision-making in some procurements took too long. In 42 percent of the procurements assessed, coordination with advisory institutions lasted between 30 and 374 days, while the recommended maximum duration for an international procurement is 180 to 240 calendar days.

The Ministry of National Defence has said it will submit proposals to the government this autumn aimed at making defence procurement more efficient.