A priority for next month’s NATO summit in The Hague should be for allies to exceed the 2% of GDP goal for military spending all the way to 5%, said Lithuania’s defense chief.
The minister, Dovile Sakaliene, said that with the Trump administration’s intent to dial back America’s military presence in Europe, a 5% defense pledge needs to happen soon.
Lithuania spends 4% of its gross domestic product on military hardware and plans to increase it to at least 5% in 2026, Ms. Sakaliene said Wednesday in a discussion at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington.
Hesitancy about increased defense spending from NATO members that aren’t near Russia is likely based on politics as much as the adverse economic impact from ramping up military spending, she said.
“Citizens understand what difficult times we’re living in, but if even the smallest piece of border is breached in the NATO bloc, that means all the economies [and] all the financial markets — everything — is going to plummet,” she said. “That is an important message that is not easy to deliver.”
She called Lithuania part of the “Club of Hardliners,” Eastern European countries like Poland, Estonia and Latvia that lie near Russia and Belarus and have been ramping up their defense spending since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“These countries understand what it means to be occupied,” Ms. Sakaliene said.
She said Lithuania backs President Trump’s call for NATO members to increase their military spending. She added that his demands are justified and make the case that some allies haven’t been serious about their national security. Moscow must know that the NATO alliance is unified and well-supplied with the firepower necessary to push back any future invasion, she said.
“The main goal of the upcoming Hague summit and the upcoming year is to be sure we stand our ground, whatever happens and whoever threatens us,” Ms. Sakaliene said. “We are a family, and we will need to find a way to work together despite new challenges all the time.”
