A working group on May 13 finalised a cross-party agreement on beefing up Lithuania’s national security. The final draft excludes commitments to introduce universal military service and a specific percentage of GDP to be spent on defence, as previously expected.
The agreement, to be signed by all parties represented in the Lithuanian parliament, is meant to ensure continuity in the country’s defence policies.
Instead of compulsory universal conscription, the document now states that “in order to significantly increase the number of citizens ready for defence and accelerate the formation of the active reserve, a decision should be taken on a gradual increase in the number of soldiers in compulsory initial military service in line with national defence needs and with parallel development of an alternative military service system”.
Although the document does not include commitment to pursue universal conscription, it puts an emphasis on increasing the number of conscripts, Laurynas Kasciunas, chairman of the parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defence, has pointed out.
“We already have the government’s proposal on the threshold numbers of troops for the next year, and the upper limit is 4,400 conscripts, and if we started post-school conscription, a study carried out by the Defence Ministry shows that we would have 6,100 conscripts. In five to seven years, after we invest in infrastructure and train officers to work with conscripts, we will in fact achieve the effect of a universal conscription,” Kasciunas, a conservative MP, said.
Still, he expressed regret that the concept of universal conscription was not included in the document.
Party representatives also failed to agree on a specific percentage of GDP that should be earmarked for defence spending.
The document states that the previous commitment to allocate 2.5% of GDP for defence, achieved this year, would be maintained and that “further funding should be linked to the needs of the national defence system and the Lithuanian Armed Forces”.
This way, a minimum level of funding would be established, leaving the possibility to decide on further need-based funding, Kasciunas said.
President Gitanas Nauseda earlier suggested that the agreement should include a fixed level of 3% GDP for national defence.
The draft agreement will now be considered by parliamentary parties’ structures for the next two weeks and it is expected to be signed in early June.
Lithuanian politicians are debating a new cross-party national defence agreement in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February. (LRT/Business World Magazine)
