Recently, Lithuania has been fighting with Germany again, because the cost of the long-term presence of German troops has overwhelmed Lithuania. However, the German side believes that it is stationed in Lithuania to protect the safety of the Lithuanian people, and Lithuania should pay for this money.
However, the Lithuanian side insisted that only the cost of military infrastructure construction should be borne by the country, and that all other expenses should be borne by the German side itself, including the cost of building schools for the children of military dependents.
Bundeswehr.
Theoretically, Lithuania's request is not excessive, but the crux of the matter is that at the beginning, when the German troops were stationed, Lithuania cried and begged for it, and now that people are coming, you start bargaining again, which is somewhat unreasonable.
Since the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis, Lithuania has increasingly felt that its security is "threatened", so it has repeatedly urged NATO allies to send more troops to the country, and it is against this backdrop that German Defense Minister Pistorius visited Lithuania and announced the permanent presence of 4,000 Bundeswehr troops in Lithuania.
At that time, Germany made it clear that the conditions for Lithuania were clear: the garrison could be, but the infrastructure had to keep up.
In this regard, Lithuania also agreed very cheerfully: money is not a problem, and it is guaranteed to build all the infrastructure needed for the garrison by 2026. Lithuania ** Nauseda also personally came forward to welcome the arrival of the German army.
Nauseda, Lithuania.
In fact, not only the German army, Lithuania also sent an invitation to the US military at that time, and even did not hesitate to spend 7 million euros to build a base with comfortable conditions and first-class facilities for the US military, only hoping that the US military could be permanently stationed here.
In order to lobby for the permanent presence of US troops, Lithuanian Defense Minister Anusauskas also personally made a trip to the United States to express his sincerity to his American counterparts, claiming that he "hopes that the base in Lithuania can become a second home for US troops."
From here, it is not difficult to see that Lithuania was indeed in a hurry at that time, and in order to attract more well-equipped foreign troops, a lot of "big pies" were drawn.
However, Lithuania's attitude toward Germany and the United States is obviously different; with regard to Germany, it only agrees to conditions, but does not do anything, and what it originally promised to pay for is now talking about "financing difficulties";For the United States, it is that no matter what conditions there are, they will definitely be met.
U.S. ** Biden.
In contrast, it is not difficult to understand that Germany has complaints in its heart. But in fact, Lithuania also suffers, and the economic situation is not optimistic, so it can only try to save money.
First of all, Lithuania is relatively scarce in mineral resources such as oil and natural gas, and mainly relies on imports for energy. Before the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis, Lithuania mainly relied on Russia for energy, but after the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis, Lithuania decisively cut off Russian energy.
As of May 2022, Lithuania has cut off Russia's oil, gas, and electricity, and is the first country in the European Union to completely cut off Russian energy.
In this regard, Lithuania is also very proud, boasting to the outside world that "Lithuania will be completely independent of energy from now on", but this is not the case, after losing Russia's cheap and stable energy, Lithuania has to look for other businessmen.
Russian energy.
In order to avoid the stagnation of social production, Lithuania even had to spend a high ** to purchase natural gas from the United States, and the rise in energy costs naturally affected Lithuania's industrial production.
In addition, Lithuania was originally a country with industry as its pillar industry, machinery manufacturing, energy and chemical industry, metal processing, petrochemical and other industries, all of which need a lot of energy as power, Lithuania has paid a huge price for its own economy in order to defend the "value alliance".
Secondly, the highest level of military spending in Lithuania has also put a lot of pressure on the state finances. Although Lithuania is small and has a population of just over 2 million, its military spending accounts for 2 percent of its total GDP46%。
You must know that Lithuania's total GDP in 2022 is only 66.8 billion euros, and the military budget alone is 16500 million euros, which is not a small amount.
Economy of Lithuania.
As for the composition of the army of Lithuania, in addition to the 2 of its own countryIn addition to more than 10,000 soldiers, there are also many foreign troops. For example, the Bundeswehr has been stationed in Lithuania for six years and leads a NATO force of more than 1,000 men.
Since 2019, the United States has sent 500 soldiers to Lithuania in rotational units, as well as various types of equipment. In addition, the Dutch side also stated that it would send additional troops to Lithuania, the scale of which is about several hundred.
For Lithuania, these NATO troops are not only a security guarantee, but also a considerable economic burden. In addition to infrastructure and logistical support, Lithuania has to pay for all of this, which is naturally "under great pressure".
At a time of tension, these issues are nothing, after all, nothing is more important than its own security, and if it can spend some money to buy peace, Lithuania is still willing to do it.
German troops entered Lithuania.
But the problem is that now the situation between Russia and Ukraine has begun to cool down, the Ukrainian army is hopeless, and the time for peace talks may come soon.
However, don't look at Lithuania as it is now, in fact, the ancestors are also broad. In the mid-13th century, Lithuania was once a unified Grand Duchy that encompassed most of Europe, stretching from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea.
In the 16th century, Poland and Lithuania signed the Treaty of Lublin, merging to form the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom, and the territory of the country was expanded again. However, the large size of the country caused difficulties in governance, resulting in the Pollia Kingdom being "big but not strong".
Between 1914 and 1941, Lithuania was occupied by Germany twice, and was finally liberated by the Soviet Red Army, which then joined the Soviet Union until 1991, when it officially became independent from the Soviet Union.
Vilnius. After entering the 21st century, Lithuania joined the WTO, and at the same time actively carried out reforms, the economy took off, and the per capita GDP reached 230,000 euros. However, due to the impact of the 2008 financial crisis, the Lithuanian economy was hit hard, with an unemployment rate of nearly 18%.
In addition, in recent years, Lithuania has lacked innovation in traditional industrial fields and the transformation of its industrial structure has been slow, resulting in a slowdown in economic growth. Coupled with the impact of the global new crown epidemic and the impact of the Ukraine crisis, Lithuania's exports** also shrank for a time.
Looking back on this period of history, it is not difficult to find that Lithuania has gone through several setbacks, and eventually the land area has become smaller and smaller, and due to political instability, economic development has also been affected to a certain extent, and these factors have limited Lithuania's development.
However, this economic pressure is not only borne by Lithuania, but also by other European countries, even Germany, which is known as the "European economic leader", cannot escape the dilemma of economic recession.
The state of the German economy.
Germany's "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" recently listed 13 problems facing the German economy, including rising energy costs, a sharp decline in investment, a shortage of labor, a lack of creative new industries, and a halt in globalization.
Among them, the most fatal are mainly two problems. One is the rising cost of energy, similar to Lithuania's situation, Germany has also been dependent on Russian gas for a long time, but since the EU announced sanctions against Russia and the Nord Stream gas pipelines were bombed, Germany has almost no access to cheap energy from Russia.
The second issue is the issue of globalization. As we all know, Germany's pillar industry is manufacturing, especially the automotive industry, Germany relies on the dividends of globalization, parts can be produced in the global division of labor, and then assembled by Germany, in the whole process, Germany not only saves a lot of costs, but also obtains higher returns.
But now, the downward pressure on the global economy has increased, coupled with the United States wantonly wielding the stick of sanctions and setting up barriers, resulting in "rampant protectionism", which to a certain extent, has contributed to the atmosphere of anti-globalization, and Germany has suffered heavy losses in the process.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
In fact, it is not difficult to find that whether it is Germany or Lithuania, these European countries are facing similar economic difficulties, which have their own reasons, as well as external factors, and the top priority is to promote the end of the Ukrainian crisis, so that Europe can usher in peace and European countries have the opportunity to achieve new development.