Vilnius is hosting a joint summit of the Bucharest Nine (B9) and Scandinavian countries, where the emphasis is on defense financing and coordinated support for Ukraine. This was reported by the Lithuanian National Television (LRT), BTA reports.
The B9 includes Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. Representatives of the Scandinavian countries - Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Iceland - as well as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are also joining the forum in Vilnius.
The meeting aims to coordinate regional positions ahead of the upcoming NATO summit in The Hague, scheduled for about three weeks. There, the topic of increasing military spending will be the leading one.
“The Vilnius forum will focus on two key topics: preparing for the Hague meeting and strengthening support for Ukraine“, said Deividas Matulionis, chief national security adviser to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda. These issues will be discussed in two special sessions.
In 2014, NATO countries committed to spending at least 2% of their GDP on defense, but some have yet to reach that goal. In light of growing threats, US President Donald Trump has urged allies to increase spending to 5% of GDP. The Baltic states and Poland have already announced their intentions to adhere to this goal.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has proposed a compromise approach - 3.5% of GDP for purely defense needs and another 1.5% for broader security-related activities.
“If we reach an agreement in The Hague to increase defense budgets to at least 3.5% in a short time, the meeting will rightly be remembered as historic“, Matulionis said.
Despite the reservations of Hungary and Slovakia regarding military aid to Ukraine, Lithuanian organizers emphasize that the topic will remain among the leading ones in Vilnius.