Linas Jegelevičius
With less than a month until Lithuania’s presidential election left, all eight candidates are making a last-ditch effort to single out themselves and get more traction in their campaigning. Where do the candidates stand on some hot issues, like, say, the introduction of the so-called defence tax or teaching Russian in Lithuanian schools?
Dainius Žalimas, law professor and former Constitutional Court chair, told BNN that, until now, he has been seeing “chaos” in deciding on the country’s defence priorities.
“Only lately, they are shaping up clearer – I mean the decision on NATO-led air defence, the decision last year to form a Lithuanian army division (the State Defence Council last May approved the proposal to create a division in the Lithuanian army by 2030 – L. J.), the deployment of German troops and involving the Riflemen Union in the land’s defence and its strengthening…
To me, a liberal man and politician, raising taxes – also for defence – is an extreme measure,
especially during an election year. Frankly, I do not think it is realistic (to have legislation on a defence tax passed – L. J.), maybe it can happen at the end of the year, after the elections will have taken place,” D. Žalimas said.
According to him, when it comes to bolstering national defence, Lithuania has not yet exhausted all the borrowing possibilities. And if defence tax is enacted, it should come from a higher profit tax, D. Žalimas says.
“We see that, largely, Lithuanian businesses are in favour of raising it by onepercentage point at least, however, initiatives should also come from the government and the Finance ministry,” the presidential candidate said.
MP Remigijus Žemaitaitis, who is known for his off-the hoof brazen remarks and staving off anti-Semitism accusations (he denies any wrongdoing in the regard – L. J.) told BNN: “Our current commitments suffice to satisfy our defence needs. We just need to make sure that our defence-related procurements are transparent and efficient. In, say, four years from now, we are likely to have a different security situation – I mean better, so all the hyped proposals about a much larger spending for our defence sector will not make sense then. I hope so.”
In his words, that defence procurement has not always been proper shows the resignation of Arvydas Anušauskas,
the defence minister, who claimed that he had encountered cases of “egregious interference in public procurement” and that when he “closed the door” for companies that tried to bribe employees of the ministry, they found “an open door in the Seimas”.
However, later, he backpedalled from the accusations.
Giedrimas Jeglinskas, the presidential candidate of the opposition party “The Democratic Union “For Lithuania”, told BNN that Lithuania should make tax collection more efficient.
“We are the leaders in the EU in terms of non-collection of VAT,
about two billion euros are not collected per year and remain in the shadows. It is also possible to consider the profit tax, the increase of excise duties, and the possibility of borrowing. However, before raising taxes, we would like to see the specific priorities of the government, what acquisitions are planned in the field of defence. I don’t see that yet,” G. Jeglinskas emphasised.
Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė and the presidential candidate of the main ruling party, the Homeland Union-LCD, could not be reached for the article.
Šimonytė has said that possible sources of funding could come from revising personal income tax exemptions, introducing progressive rates, raising the value-added tax, the profit tax. One of the options proposes “sharing the burden with municipalities”, that is, cutting the share of tax revenues that the central government shares with local authorities.
According to the prime minister, 3% of GDP is the baseline requirement for defence, while additional investments could be financed through borrowing.
The government expects to announce concrete proposals in April.
President Gitanas Nausėda, who is seeking his second term, has said that a defence tax could be introduced in Lithuania in 2025, underscoring that the state, first, “have to make use of the opportunities offered by borrowing.”
Andrius Mazuronis, the presidential candidate of the Labour party, did not answer BNN query, but he has said that
his party opposes the idea that defence would be funded by new taxes.
“The current economic context is rather complex and is only deteriorating. After all, we think that such decisions should be made by the newly elected head of state, who is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. Now these discussions and initiatives seem to be part of the pre-election process,” he was quoted.
Ignas Vėgėlė, an independent candidate, who, earlier this month, was backed by the largest opposition party, Lithuania’s Farmers and Greens (LVŽS), has also said he is against any additional taxes and their raise. He was unreachable for the article.
Eduardas Vaitkus, also a presidential candidate, told BNN that “Lithuania spends 10% of its budget for war in Ukraine”, a doubtful claim.
“Over the last three years, the amount increased 80%, but we became less safe.
Meanwhile, over the last year, NATO member states spent for their defence 20 times more than Russia, but their security did not increase. Lithuania cannot be safe if their neighbours will not feel safe,” E. Vaitkus said.
Notably, Lithuania’s Chief Electoral Commission, VRK, decided not to include Vaitkus’ election programme in its publication introducing presidential candidates, explaining that some of his statements oppose Lithuania’s international commitments, including NATO membership, and were allegedly aimed at spreading distrust towards Ukrainian citizens and calling the authorities traitors without legal basis. Vaitkus revised his programme but did not eliminate the parts that drew the attention of the electoral commission, according to the VRK.
The idea of the defence tax was raised last year by Laurynas Kasčiūnas,
the-then chair of the Seimas Committee on National Security and Defence, now the country’s defence minister, after the President’s Office criticised the 2024 defence budget for not including funds for the plan approved by the State Defence Council to establish a land division within the Lithuanian Armed Forces.
Asked about teaching of Russian in schools, D. Žalimas said that Russian, as the Mother Tongue for some pupils, needs to be continued in the country’s ethnic minority schools, but, in the long-term, the transition to the Lithuanian language should take place.
“Gradually, not radically,” he emphasised.
Jeglinskas said this on the topic: “Russian can remain as an optional language among other foreign languages. However, priority should be given to English, French, German and other languages of the Western world.”
Agreeing, R. Žemaitaitis said that there should remain fewer Russian classes every year in ethnic minority schools.
“We should aim that, in ten years from now, all subjects were taught in Lithuanian, not Russian, so, idealistically, first graders would use only Lithuanian then.
However, as a second or third language, Russian could stay,”
R. Žemaitaitis said.
All the presidential candidates approached by BNN expressed their unwavering support for Belarusian opposition and the activities of its office in Vilnius, headed by Sviatlana Cichanouskaja. Only R. Žemaitaitis claimed he is “categorically against it.”
“Belarusian opposition needs to operate in the country (Belarus), not outside it and not use money of Lithuanian taxpayers. If we are so nice and if we want to be known as democracy exporters, we probably should allow all the opposition forces of African countries to open their offices in Vilnius and maintain them,” the presidential candidate said.
The latest survey shows that the incumbent president, Gitanas Nausėda, continues to lead confidently.
His support in late March, compared to the poll conducted a month earlier, increased by four percentage points and reached 44.4%. I. Vėgėlė is favoured by a tenth of the voters (9.4%), down from 11.1% a month ago. I. Šimonytė, who is trying to win the presidential elections for the second time, is liked by 5.8%, down from 9.1% a month ago. 4.6% would like to see R. Žemaitaitis as their president. Eduardas Vaitkus has 3.9%, up from 2.8% in February. A. Mazuronis’ support stands at 2.6%, no change from February. Next in the ranking is D. Žalimas, supported by 2.1% both in March and February. G.Jeglinskas got 1.1%, down from 2.4% in February.
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