Proposes to raise funds for defence through the sale of 631 000 ha of unused land
The representatives of the Patriotic Union of Lithuania-Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) party propose to raise additional funds for defence purposes by improving unused state land in both cities and regions. Laurynas Kasčiūnas, the party's president-elect, says the state must think about long-term, sustainable financing solutions, as maintaining defence capabilities would cost around 4% of gross domestic product (GDP).
„Defence planning is special because you can't buy armaments and think you won't have to take care of them. There is a cost to maintaining it, because full operational capability is not just about weapons, it is also about ammunition, which is ageing and needs replacing. It is also about training and maintaining personnel, infrastructure, training facilities," Kasčiūnas told reporters on Tuesday.
K. We have 631,000 hectares of uncultivated land
„There is other remaining land, 104,000 hectares, which is completely unregistered, unformatted and unleased. And then there is 631 thousand of state-owned no-man's land, which includes unformed roads, forests, which is unregistered“, – he explained.
The MEP said the state could raise additional funds by auctioning up to 10 hectares of intervening state agricultural land and part of the forest area.He said that in total, the state could raise around €2 billion from these sources.
„One project, which has passed the submission stage, has been registered by my colleague and I in the Seimas, so that interfering plots of land, up to 10 hectares in area, could be sold“, – pointed out K. Starkevičius.
„We have additionally calculated that it is possible to (sell – ELTA) those so-called collective farm forests, part of which the State Forest Enterprise has taken, but there is another part that could be sold and receive money for those forests – over half a billion euros“, – he said.
V. Benkunskas: we are talking about at least 1 billion euros
Vilnius Mayor Valdas Benkunskas says the capital has large reserves of unused land which, if sold, would go into the defence fund. He said the city would benefit from the sale of such land because it would no longer have to maintain it.
„In the case of Vilnius, we have done two very simple things. We have seen that with the current regulation we also have plots of land that are attributable to the state, but if they are not in use, the so-called intervening plots of land, which according to the law cover an area of up to 4 acres," the mayor of the capital city explained.
„The proposal is very simple – to revise the regulation by substantially increasing the possibility for the owners of related plots to buy such plots“, – he suggested.
V. Benkunskas said that certain changes to the law are needed to enable the city to enable landowners to purchase plots of intervening land. The politician proposes to extend the powers of cities in land management matters.
„Maybe give the auctions to the cities. I have spoken to colleagues from other municipalities, and as trustees after the land reform that started last year, we are proposing to take the next step and give land management to the towns“, – he said.
The mayor estimates that the state could earn around €1 billion from the sale of unused land plots in Vilnius alone.
„We calculate that in Vilnius alone we can raise €300 million from what we have now, and if we take into account what is still uncounted and uncleared, we are talking about a billion euros at least,“, – he noted.
As previously announced, the National Defence Council (NDC), which met in January, agreed to allocate 5-6 per cent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) annually to defence for the period 2026-2030.
The country's head of state, Gitanas Nausėda, said that the level of funding should be maintained at 5.5% of GDP over the four-year period. The additional allocations, according to the PSC decision, are needed in order to form an army division in Lithuania by 2030.
Following this decision of the PSC, the Presidium of the TS-LKD called on the Social Democrats to take the initiative and renew the agreement between the parliamentary parties on security policy. The Conservatives propose that the document should include a clear roadmap on how the objectives of the PSC will be achieved.
The representatives of the governing parties have given a mixed reception to these proposals. Prime Minister Paluckas argued that such abstract documents have little tangible value.
Dovilė Šakalienė, the Minister of National Defence, while agreeing that a consensus among political forces on defence issues was important, the Social Democrat noted that there was no need to rush into the issue.
One of the main proposals of the Presidency for increased defence funding – to raise funds from economic growth.
This is proposed to be done by encouraging pension funds to invest more domestically, by reducing the non-collection of value added tax (VAT), and by increasing economic growth through greater investment of the country's foreign exchange reserves and citizens' deposits, which would be held in special savings accounts and pay interest to the population at a rate set by the state.
Among the ruling party's proposals for defence funding – are mechanisms for broader joint borrowing by European Union (EU) countries, although there is no agreement on this measure within the Community so far.
The last agreement on defence was signed by most parliamentary parties back in 2022, with political forces committing to maintain funding for national defence at a minimum of 2.5% of GDP.
The centre-left government has committed in its programme to a minimum of 3.5% of GDP funding for defence. However, in December, the borrowing limit for national defence was increased by €800 million, following an amendment to the 2025 state budget. In view of this, this year's defence allocation will reach 4% of GDP.
Similar articles
Video
