The agreement has already been signed by leaders of the Homeland Union–Lithuanian Christian Democrats, Liberal and Center Union, Liberal Movement, Social Democratic Party of Lithuania, Labor Party, and the Order and Justice Party.
"I am glad that all parties have the same understanding of defense and priorities. It’s important that we are able to agree not only on the budget but also on the priorities. The agreement will be announced shortly," Minister of National Defense and Vice-Chairman of the ruling Conservative Party, Rasa Juknevičienė, told BNS.
"Without this agreement, Lithuania would put itself in the pillory at the Chicago summit as we are next-to-the-last with our mean military budget. We know that we have a lot of social, education and other problems but we cannot toy with the geopolitical future of Lithuania, especially taking into account what is happening in the military area in the east. Lithuania is not preparing for a war but if we are not serious about our NATO obligations, our partners will think we are not genuine allies. And their political will to protect us will start sapping. Mature political forces, as we see, will not let that happen," Emanuelis Zingeris, chairman of the parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, told BNS, commenting on the agreement.
The document states that the country's parliamentary parties, which support Lithuania's role in strengthening NATO's collective defense and security system and the European Union's security and defense policy, make a commitment "to gradually increase funding for national defense on an annual basis, to seek that 2 percent of GDP were allocated for the national defense system in the long run."
The parties also agreed to "carry out a defense policy based on the balance of national needs and international commitments by strengthening military capabilities needed for the national defense and at the same time seeking to ensure a proportionate contribution to the development of NATO's collective defense and contribute to international efforts to spread peace and stability outside the Alliance."
By means of this agreement, the parties also commit themselves to contributing to regional and global security and stability, taking part in the control regime activities, contributing to ensuring national and the allies' security in response to threats of terrorism or proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, actively developing defense cooperation with other countries seeking to be part of the Euro-Atlantic security community.
Algirdas Butkevičius, chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania, told BNS the parties wanted the agreement to be signed by all parties before the NATO summit in Chicago.
Algis Čaplikas, chairman of the Liberal and Center Union, said the document was necessary for defense issues "not to become an internal political tool." "Such an agreement is necessary for the defense strategy not to become dependent on internal political changes," he told BNS.
Valentinas Mazuronis, elder of the Order and Justice party's political group in the parliament, said "it's a necessary and valuable document as there are issues that should not become the object of speculations influenced by pre-election or any other actions."
"The agreement on defense policy is needed for a common strategy, and by this we make the commitment to continue the existing policy," Mazuronis told BNS.
Lithuania's current defense spending is under 1 percent of GDP, although NATO member countries have assumed the commitment of seeking to allocate at least 2 percent.
Lithuania has come under NATO criticism over insufficient defense spending. The issue was also on the agenda of the meeting between Degutienė and US Senate's Armed Services Committee member John McCain in Vilnius last week.
The first time the agreement on defense policy was submitted to the parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defense was back in 2009, but it was never signed.
According to government's calculations, Lithuania's current defense spending stands at 0.95-0.97 percent of GDP.
In 2004, 11 Lithuanian political parties committed themselves to granting at least 2 percent of the GDP for defense purposes in the 2005-2008 period as continuation of the analogous document signed in 2001. However, the objective was never reached.
Not all parties find it important
Speaker of the Lithuanian Seimas Irena Degutienė welcomed the defense funding agreement signed by major parliamentary parties, but expressed regret over the attitude of the Lithuanian Peasant and Greens Union and the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania.
"I am glad that leaders of almost all parties represented in the parliament signed this important document. As the NATO summit in Chicago is approaching, it’s especially important to confirm that Lithuania meets its obligations and is ready to continue doing that irrespective of possible changes in the country's government," Degutienė said in a statement.
Bu the speaker expressed regret over the fact that not all political parties find "this document important". She also noted that parties could join the agreement later.
"I see no reasons why leaders of the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania and the Lithuanian Peasant and Greens Union refused to co-sign this agreement, but this decision is deplorable," the speaker said.
Peasants find it ridiculous, Poles were informed too late
The Lithuanian Peasant and Greens Union criticizes a defense funding agreement signed by the country's political parties. Meanwhile the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania says it was informed about the agreement too late.
"We clearly say that in the current situation - when schools are being massively closed down, when funding for culture institutions is not even at the minimum level, with such massive migration - saying that Lithuania's future depends on national defense funding is absolutely ridiculous. If we increased it to 2 percent, then it would double, but soon there will be no one to defend," Ramūnas Karbauskis, chairman of the Lithuanian Peasant and Greens Union, told BNS on Tuesday.
He said he did not understand how other parties could sign the agreement.
"Who are we going to defend? Who is attacking us? What are we trying to show? Are we trying to prove to NATO partners that we meet our old obligations? We don’t meet them and why deceive our partners and why tell these things to our people? Once we deal with the situation in areas of priority, only then can we talk about some agreement," Karbauskis said.
Meanwhile Leonard Talmont, deputy chairman of the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania, said he was informed about the planned agreement by the parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs only at the end of last week.
"I received a call from the Committee on Foreign Affairs on Friday or Thursday, saying that there was such an agreement and we should sign it. I did not receive any official letters on who is organizing everything and how. One person – a chairman or deputy chairman – cannot do such a thing alone. We always discuss such things at the party's presidium, and the chairman was away, and we could not discuss it. And without discussions, no one would sign it because it's a very important issue related to money," Talmont told BNS.
