Opposition says defence spending masks government promises

Lithuania’s opposition has questioned claims that next year’s budget deficit could exceed 3% of GDP because of defence investment, saying the move may instead be intended to fund generous government promises, LRT reported.

Former finance minister Gintarė Skaistė, a Conservative, said the government appeared to be preparing the public for a breach of fiscal rules before presenting its budget. She argued that spending commitments in the government programme, including more generous pension indexation and free meals proposed by the Social Democrats, could be behind the change.

Skaistė said the government had stated three months ago that it would observe fiscal discipline. She also said the European Commission had already granted member states an additional flexibility of 1.5 percentage points for four years to support sustainable increases in security spending. Lithuania, she said, could use that flexibility during the current government’s term, making it inappropriate to suggest that the Commission had not offered further leeway.

Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, leader of the Liberal Movement and head of its parliamentary group, also criticised the possibility of allowing the public-sector deficit to exceed 3% of GDP next year. In a Facebook post, she questioned whether defence spending would be clearly distinguished from other expenditure and warned against interpreting security and defence spending too broadly.

Čmilytė-Nielsen said Lithuania’s public debt was already close to 35 billion euros and that a higher deficit would increase financial risks. She warned that spending commitments not backed by sustainable revenue would leave some taxpayers paying for promises made to others, and said the decisions could create serious problems after the 2028 elections.

On Tuesday, presidential chief adviser Vaidas Augustinavičius said Lithuania could exceed the Maastricht budget-deficit limit next year to maintain adequate defence funding.