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The President: The Baltic States and Poland will join efforts to strengthen the forward deterrence line along NATO's and the EU's eastern flank

President of the Republic of Lithuania

May 30, 2025

On Friday, President Gitanas Nausėda met with European Commissioner for Defense and Space Andrius Kubilius.

The Head of State emphasized that Lithuania welcomes the European Union's efforts to increase funding for deterrence and defense. Lithuania intends to make use of the EU's preferential loan mechanism to procure military equipment.

"Together with Estonia and Latvia, Lithuania is reinforcing the Baltic Defense Line, which is being synchronized and integrated with Poland's East Shield initiative. This represents a historical frontier between Western and Eastern civilizations—the external border of the entire European Union. The Baltic States and Poland are safeguarding this border together by coordinating defense plans and jointly investing in specific counter-mobility and fortification measures. We expect the EU to provide long-term and prioritized funding for this project," the President pointed out.

Gitanas Nausėda further stressed that strengthening the EU's security and defense capabilities is not an alternative to NATO. On the contrary, enhanced synergy between the EU and NATO would benefit all member states. Therefore, increased EU security and defense spending should be planned in line with the military capability development goals of European NATO members.

The President's Communication Group