Lithuania parliament committee proposes cuts in defense spending

The parliamentary Budget and Finance Committee on 14 November recommended that the government reduce next year's defense spending from 1.9 percent of the GDP, which the previous Conservative government had approved. Committee chairman Centrist Kestutis Glaveckas did not give a figure for the reduction but said that Lithuania, in its current financial situation, can afford to spend 1.83-1.85 percent of GDP on defense. Noting that neither the Foreign or Defense Ministries were consulted on the matter, former Premier Andrius Kubilius declared that the cuts would force the Lithuanian government to revise the national NATO Integration Program, recently presented to Brussels; he voted against the cuts. Seven committee members supported the cuts, while another former premier, Gediminas Vagnorius, abstained.