ISTANBUL

Lithuania’s foreign minister on Friday criticized NATO members for failing to significantly increase defense spending, warning that the lack of investment remains a fundamental problem for the alliance.

Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said some European allies were offering political declarations instead of making concrete financial commitments.

“I see that defense spending in Europe is not increasing. I see that the situation is being ‘massaged,’ ‘powdered,’ and there is talk about political will to allegedly ensure autonomy, which is just enough,” Budrys told Baltic News Service in an interview.

He said governments must translate their political commitments into tangible defense funding and orders from the defense industry.

“We need hard currency, we need to show needs to businesses and place orders,” he said, adding that the defense sector requires clear demand signals to expand production capacity.

“These are big challenges, but the unwillingness to increase defense spending is the fundamental problem,” Budrys added.

The comments come as members of North Atlantic Treaty Organization debate increasing military budgets following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which prompted a renewed focus on defense preparedness across Europe.

At last year’s NATO Summit in The Hague, alliance members pledged to allocate at least 5% of their gross domestic product to military and defense-related spending by 2035. The proposed target includes 3.5% of GDP for direct defense spending and 1.5% for related projects such as military mobility and infrastructure.

Lithuania plans to allocate 5.38% of its GDP to direct defense spending this year, among the highest levels within the alliance.
However, several NATO members are still meeting only the alliance’s previous benchmark of 2% of GDP and have been slow to move toward higher targets.

Budrys said he has tried various diplomatic approaches to encourage allies to increase spending.

“I have tried almost everything from my repertoire,” he said. “All that is left is naming and shaming, nailing it to a street bulletin board.”

He stressed that alliance commitments must be taken seriously, warning that the alliance’s credibility depends on members fulfilling their obligations.

“If we commit to dying for each other, how can we not fulfill the promise to ensure that it is not necessary? Because that is deterrence,” Budrys said.