Minister of Finance K. Vaitiekūnas: 'Lithuania's voice on strengthening security has been heard in Brussels, and we are striving for even more'

In Brussels, Lithuania, together with eight other countries, signed a declaration on the establishment of the EastInvest Facility. This will allow EU countries bordering Russia, Belarus and Ukraine to mobilise European funds in five priority areas to enhance security and resilience. Minister of Finance Kristupas Vaitiekūnas welcomes this initiative and emphasizes Lithuania's strong position on increasing the allocation of European defence funds and presents to the European Commission new specific proposals that would increase the resilience of the Baltic States.

"EU Member States with a direct border with Russia and Belarus face exceptional economic, social, security and resilience challenges. The scale and nature of these challenges differ from those of other eastern regions of the EU, calling for a strategic and strong EU response. The European Commission's political focus on the EU's eastern border regions is welcome, but at the same time requires concrete action at EU level. Together with Estonia and Latvia, we are proposing very specific actions to the EC to strengthen the security and resilience of the Baltic region", Minister of Finance K. Vaitiekūnas states.

According to the Minister, maintaining a strong political commitment and targeted support to the EU's eastern border states bordering Russia and Belarus is not just a regional ambition, but a strategic investment in the security, resilience, competitiveness and long-term stability of our Union as a whole.

"Most importantly, the next Multiannual Financial Framework 2028-2034 would provide additional financial support in the form of targeted funds to strengthen defence, preparedness, resilience and security capabilities, while ensuring economic, social and territorial convergence," the Ministersays.

It is also important to ensure specific calls and priority selection criteria for projects in the EU's eastern border regions under directly managed EU programmes.

A review of State aid requirements is proposed to address the specific challenges of the EU's eastern border regions and to enable new investments.

"It is necessary to strengthen and coordinate the EU's efforts to counter hybrid threats, building on dedicated funding from the current and future EU-funded programmes," the Minister notes.

It is equally important to launch the EastInvest Facility as soon as possible, with targeted investment decisions responding to the exceptional needs of the EU's eastern border regions.

The EastInvest Facility has five priority areas: the Eastern Flank Watch initiative, which aims to strengthen the capacity of EU border states to face a wide range of threats, the European drone defence initiative, easier access to funding sources, the integration of the Baltic electricity grid into the wider European network, the modernisation of transport networks, solutions to depopulation and labour shortages.