Lithuanian opposition leader urges focus on defence priorities over GDP percentages

Opposition Conservative leader Laurynas Kasčiūnas has called on the ruling Social Democrats to prioritise defence capabilities over the percentage of GDP allocated to defence, LRT reports.

His comments follow government pledges to allocate at least 5% of GDP to defence next year, though it remains unclear whether this will exceed the 5.38% planned for this year.

“I’ll try to deconstruct the prime minister’s hints. I think the absolute amount of money will be the same, but since the economy will have grown slightly, it won’t be 5.38%, it will be just over 5%,” Kasčiūnas told Žinių Radijas on Friday.

He stressed the importance of evaluating “what we can achieve with that money as a state.”

“What are the priorities now? Is the current funding enough for a fully operational division? If yes, then fine. Do we want greater air defence ambitions? Then we need to calculate what needs to be done. If we don’t have more money, maybe we can redistribute priorities,” Kasčiūnas said.

Current agreements aim to allocate 5–6% of GDP to national defence by 2030, linked to goals of developing a Lithuanian military division and hosting a German brigade.

Kasčiūnas also argued that Lithuania should conduct a self-reflection on the possible operation of a CIA prison in the country, urging the ruling Social Democrats to take the initiative.

“Any parliamentary investigation would be very limited because we would need access to American information, which we probably wouldn’t get. So, if we don’t want political noise, a parliamentary inquiry isn’t the way—we should either let the prosecutor’s office continue its investigation or conduct a government-led probe,” he said.

He suggested that such an investigation could build on information from a US Senate report about cash payments to Lithuanian officials.

“On one hand, this sounds like political archaeology—these are old processes. On the other, America has done its own reflection; the Senate report is a serious document. It includes the important statement that cash was handed to Lithuanian officials. We should start from there: what money, who received it, and which officials?” Kasčiūnas said.

Discussions on the issue resurfaced after Lithuania lost another case at the European Court of Human Rights. In 2009, a parliamentary investigation by the Seimas National Security and Defence Committee concluded that conditions for detaining people existed in Lithuania, but it could not prove that prisoners were brought to or held in the country.

Seimas Speaker Juozas Olekas and Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius have stated they see no point in launching another investigation into the CIA prison allegations. However, Virginijus Sinkevičius, leader of the Democratic Union “For Lithuania,” has argued that such an investigation should be conducted.