“Some leaders of European countries, such as Starmer,
Macron, Merz and others, are living one-day, transitional, politicians before
the turn to the right. They know that they have driven their countries into poverty
that they will not last long in power, that they cannot change anything on the
world stage. Therefore, they use the incitement of nuclear war and, loudly
proclaimed, the hopeless dreams of stopping the efforts of US President Trump,
to advertise themselves and stay at the trough of power for a minute longer.
Lithuanian President G. Nausėda is doing the same. Maybe it is not even his
policy, but the policy of the Scandinavian bank he serves. However, it is
harmful to Lithuania. In our neighborhood, it is dangerous, a policy of pulling
a lion by the whiskers.
"G. Nausėda says new EC defense plan will allow
rearmament, G. Paluckas skeptical
After the European Commission (EC) presented the Community
Defense Guidelines and some of the measures of the defense strengthening plan
on Wednesday, President Gitanas Nausėda urges Lithuania to use the proposed
financial resources and arm itself. At the same time, Prime Minister Gintautas
Paluckas says that the only good thing about the European Defense Plan is the
possibility of not counting the 1.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) spent on
defense in the overall budget deficit.
G. Nausėda said that the new European Defense Strengthening
Plan will allow Lithuania to arm itself more.
"Lithuania
has a relatively low ratio of public debt to gross domestic product (GDP), so
we have the fiscal space to maneuver to use these financial resources and arm
ourselves," G. Nausėda told reporters before the European Council (EC)
meeting on Thursday.
The EC on Wednesday presented the Community Defence
Guidelines – the so-called White Paper – and part of the measures of the
Defence Strengthening Plan.
The
Commission proposes to relax the bloc’s fiscal rules and allow states to
allocate much more funds to defence – not to include 1.5% of GDP spent on
defence in the national budget deficit. This measure could help free up EUR 650
billion over four years.
The EC also proposes to provide member states with up to EUR
150 billion in EU-backed loans.
According to G. Nausėda, some Southern European states –
perhaps due to a worse debt-to-GDP ratio – are proposing to follow the path of
grants rather than borrowing.
“But in order to have grants, you need to have finances, to
agree on a new financial formula. At the moment, the Commission has submitted a
proposal as soon as possible, because time doesn’t wait. (...) Today we have to
think mainly about our security, what we can do for our security and we can
really do a lot by using these instruments,” - the president said.
“In the medium term, it is important to use this precious
time that Ukraine is winning for us to strengthen our military capabilities. I
welcome the EC’s ReArm Europe plan, we must rearm, otherwise we will be what we
are,” said G. Nausėda.
According to him, Europe must not only strengthen its
defense, but also continue to support Kyiv with military measures, set the date
of Ukraine’s membership in the European Union as January 1, 2030, and increase
pressure on Russia by introducing a package of 17 sanctions, including the
export of liquefied gas and more Russian banks.
In response to the tense geopolitical situation and
uncertainty in US foreign and defense policy, during the EU summit held in
early March, leaders gave political consent to strengthen the bloc’s defense.
In order to
end the conflict in Ukraine, US President Donald Trump and Russian leader
Vladimir Putin agreed on a 30-day ceasefire during a phone call on Tuesday in
the field of energy infrastructure, but an agreement on a complete ceasefire
was not reached yet.
G. Paluckas: it looks more beautiful from afar than when you
get closer
“This is our economy’s money, permission for us to borrow,
thank you for it, but we had it before, the only good thing is the exception to
the budget deficit rule – for defense, the budget deficit can exceed 1.5%,” G.
Paluckas told reporters in the Seimas on Thursday.
“Thank you
for that, but the entire additional burden of borrowing will fall on our
economies, so much for those ambitions,” he added.
“Things often look more beautiful from afar, both in nature
and in politics, than when you get closer, but thank you for the fact that the
EC and the EVT were able to make such decisions,” the prime minister said.
“In the end,
there will be a so-called 150 billion Euro loan fund, which is clearly more
convenient than running around Europe with an outstretched hand and borrowing
from private investors and banks, but you will still have to pay interest,” - he
said.
G. Paluckas
said that Lithuania will first look at the terms and interest rates for
borrowing.
“We can also borrow on the market, if the market lends more
cheaply, not necessarily from that fund. Money will be needed, borrowing will
certainly occur, but the financing of the defense plan itself will be
constructed and will be also sought a private (sectoral – BNS) partnership
model, when infrastructure in particular will be financed by spreading the need
for money over time, both through budget revenues and borrowed funds, all of
these things will be reflected in the 2026 budget draft," - the Head of
Government said.
After the EC presented the so-called White Paper on
Strengthening European Defense, the EC member responsible for defense and
space, Audrius Kubilius, called it a "historically significant day."
He did not consider how much Lithuania could borrow from the
loan program, saying that this opens up opportunities not only to strengthen its
defense, but also provides new ways to support Ukraine.
After the preparation of the White Paper, according to A.
Kubilius, decisions on the implementation of the defense plan will now be
submitted to the EEC, including the aim of strengthening the northern and
eastern borders of the Community."
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