Saul Skvernelis, leader of the opposition Democratic Union "In the Name of Lithuania", says that farmers may see the excise duties on fuel included in the Defence Fund adopted by the Seimas as a break of the government's promises and may decide to continue the protests that took place at the beginning of this year.

„If they (the government – ELTA) start breaking them (the promises – ELTA) again, the farmers will definitely come, I have no doubt. They will just finish their work. Now we are waiting for the harvest and it is possible that they will come," Skvernelis told Žinių radios on Friday.

„Farmers, as far as their interests are concerned, if they have agreed with the government alone, then those agreements should be respected. If they are deceived, I think that farmers will not be silent," the politician stressed.

The MEP reiterated his assessment that the excise duty increase included in the defence tax fund will „hit Lithuania's economy from the other end“ – will make goods and services more expensive for the population and will stimulate inflation.

ELTA recalls that the Seimas has adopted a draft prepared by the Government, which proposes to establish a State Defence Fund, determine its purpose, sources of funds, use of funds, as well as the management of the Fund and its termination.

Finance Minister Gintarė Skaistė has stressed that the draft is needed to ensure that the allocation of at least 3% of gross domestic product (GDP) to national defence is guaranteed.

Parliament approved a 1% point increase in the corporate tax rate, as well as excise duties on alcohol and tobacco, and a rise in the safety and CO2 levies on all fuels.

25 million euros are earmarked annually in the fund from the state budget's personal income tax revenues, after reducing the fixed share of the personal income tax for municipal budgets by the same amount, as calculated in the draft law on the approval of the budget of Lithuania for the years 2025-2027.

The fund's share will consist of 4.1 per cent of the state budget revenues from excise duties in 2025, 7.1 per cent in 2026 and 7.4 per cent in 2027 and beyond.

Earlier, Parliament agreed to extend the bank solidarity levy for another year, with a projected revenue of €60 million in 2025.

In total, the Defence Fund decisions will provide additional funding of almost €259 million in 2025, more than €425 million in 2026 and almost €444 million in 2027.