Lithuania hopes for “military mobility” investment into Rail Baltica, roads

Last spring, the European Commission proposed allocating funds from the EU’s 2021–2027 budget for dual-purpose transport infrastructure to facilitate movement of military equipment in member states.

Lithuanian officials says they hope to get at least 430 million euros under constant prices (without inflation taken into consideration) from the so-called military mobility fund.

“Around 310 million euros will be needed to adapt road infrastructure, airports will need around 80 million euros and the state-run port of Klaipėda will need around 40 million euros,” Dalia Perednienė, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Transport told BNS Lithuania.

In her words, Lithuania will ask to provide additional funds to the European gauge railway Rail Baltica as “in terms of military mobility, railway infrastructure in Europe is considered a key part of transport infrastructure”.

The Transport Ministry says more detailed calculations on investment from the “military mobility” fund will be carried out shortly, and more details on the conditions for using this fund and specific infrastructure projects will be announced next year.

The European Commission is proposing allocating 5.7 billion euros at constant prices for military mobility in the EU’s next budget. This amount would stand at 6.5 billion euros at current prices when inflation is taken into account.