Lithuania Becomes First NATO Member to Exceed 5% GDP Defense Spending — Seimas Approves Record €4.79B Budget for 2026

The Lithuanian Seimas (parliament) approved a record 2026 defense budget of €4.79 billion on June 7, 2026 — equal to 5.38% of GDP — making Lithuania the first NATO member to surpass the 5% GDP target agreed at the Hague Leaders' Summit in June 2025. Lithuania plans to maintain defense spending at 5–5.5% of GDP through at least 2030. **Budget details:** The €4.79B figure represents a substantial increase from Lithuania's 2025 defense allocation and reflects the continued acceleration of Baltic defense investment in response to the Russian threat and growing concerns over US force model reductions. Lithuania's defense budget covers: land forces modernization, air and missile defense (SHORAD and VSHORAD systems), Baltic-axis logistics infrastructure, and contributions to the German-led NATO Enhanced Forward Presence brigade. **Historical milestone:** Lithuania is the first NATO member to exceed the 5% GDP Hague target — a goal set less than a year ago as the alliance's maximum ambition by 2035. The 5% achievement comes nine years ahead of schedule, driven by Lithuania's geography (direct Russian border, Kaliningrad exclave), historical experience (Soviet occupation 1940–90), and the June 3 EUCOM announcement that the US will no longer contribute submarines or drones to NATO's crisis force pool. **Baltic context:** Lithuania's milestone reflects the broader eastern flank spending surge: Poland is at 4.12% GDP (rising to an estimated 4.48% in 2026), Latvia at 3.73%, Estonia at 3.38% — all significantly above the 2% floor and all racing toward 5% on accelerated timelines driven by the US conventional drawdown confirmed June 3. The three Baltic states and Poland together represent the alliance's most committed burden-sharers in absolute percentage terms, and the most directly exposed members to Russian conventional aggression. **Hague 5% target politics:** Lithuania's 5.38% achievement demonstrates that the Hague 5% target — opposed at adoption by Spain, Belgium, and several southern NATO members — is achievable for smaller, highly motivated eastern European economies. The milestone will feature prominently in pre-Ankara political discourse: eastern flank members can now point to Lithuania as evidence that the 5% target is not merely aspirational.