Lithuanian police request additional €168 million for next year’s budget

Lithuania’s Police Department will formally ask the Interior Ministry to allocate an extra €168 million in next year’s budget, LRT reports.

Police Commissioner General Arūnas Paulauskas confirmed the request in a Friday interview with LRT Radio, stating that the department would submit an official letter “within days.” He acknowledged the significant size of the sum but stressed that current financial constraints force the police to focus on “barely scraping by rather than development.”

Paulauskas noted that Lithuania’s police force receives the lowest funding relative to GDP among all EU member states. “We are a border state facing hybrid threats and numerous other challenges,” he said. “This situation is not sustainable, and we are prepared to justify why every additional euro is necessary for the police today.”