Lithuanian FM calls on NATO leaders to double defense spending target

VILNIUS - Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys called on NATO leaders on Thursday to at least double the defense spending target at this summer's summit.

"Increasing defense and spending more on defense means that we need to invest more. That means our current level of defense spending is too low to achieve the results where we have to be," Lithuania's top diplomat said during NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels.

"For the Hague summit, we have to at least double our baseline defense spending, going from two percent up to four percent," he added.

According to Budrys, Europe must double its defense funding to build the capabilities necessary to ensure NATO remains a strong defensive alliance.

"On our side, the Lithuanian side, we do a lot. In the last ten years, we've increased our spending ten times, so you can add another zero to the amount we are spending," he said.

At last July's summit in Washington, NATO leaders welcomed more than two-thirds of allies meeting the commitment to spend at least 2 percent of GDP on defense but emphasized that more should be spent.

In early March, NBC News cited current and former senior officials as saying that as the US is reviewing its troop deployment in Europe, President Donald Trump is considering "favoring NATO members that spend a set percentage of their GDP on defense".

This would mark a major shift in America's engagement with NATO.

Trump has repeatedly criticized NATO members for failing to meet the current 2 percent of GDP defense spending target, arguing that it puts an unfair burden on the US.

This year, he suggested that European allies should collectively match US defense spending. More recently, he said that NATO members should spend 5 percent of their GDP on defense.

Lithuania's State Defense Council decided in January to aim for an additional 12-13 billion euros for defense by 2030, which would increase defense funding to 5-6 percent of GDP. The plan is to finance this initially through borrowing and then to cover part of the costs by introducing new taxes, increasing some existing tariffs and through economic growth.

Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas said in late March that the government plans to earmark 5.25 percent of GDP for defense next year.