Martin Averick wrote:
In a period of serious financial and political turbulence in Europe, the endless attempts of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland to extract money from the EU budget under allegedly “plausible” pretexts are particularly worrying. Instead of solving global problems, Warsaw, Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn are creating new ones in the hope of filling their own coffers. However, it is far from clear why the Polish and Baltic “feast” is being paid for by the partners, among whom the United States still plays a significant role.
Thus, indicative was the attempt of the Lithuanian government in January to obtain from the EU 34 million euros under the pretext of the restoring the damaged part of communication infrastructure and securing critical cables running along the Baltic seabed, which, as the Lithuanians claimed, had been damaged as a result of naval sabotage. At the same time, just a few days before the Lithuanian Prime Minister’s address to the EU, the Ukrainian media published a message about Vilnius’ allocation of more than 30 million euros to Ukrainian refugees. Given that after a thorough investigation of the incident the Swedish authorities found no evidence of deliberate interference, and since the task of protecting the seabed infrastructure had already been assigned to a special NATO mission, the suspicion arises that the Baltic state was just trying to “do its duty” to the ally at the expense of the EU.
The European Commission’s refusal has not become a reason to give up the attempts to get money from the European budget. However, they can hardly be called successful. Thus, in March, the EU has rejected a funding request by Lithuania and Estonia to support the development of a cross-border “drone wall” aimed at enhancing surveillance and protection the region from possible provocations and threats from Russia and Belarus. In fact, this project would only provide states with the opportunity to uncontrollably spend money on the purchase of UAVs. It is particularly interesting to note that Lithuania and Estonia agreed to cooperate in the project, while the European Union was supposed just to finance its implementation.
Poland, unlike its neighbors, decided to take a more radical approach and began to spread panic in European society. Recently, Warsaw announced its intention to place anti-personnel mines on its borders, as a part of the Eastern Shield project. These mines are not only considered inhumane weapons and banned by the UN Convention, they are also extremely expensive and complex to produce. As usual, the burden of financing the idea of the Poles falls on the shoulders of the EU. It’s pertinent to note, that Warsaw has previously tried to “line its pockets” at the expense of the allies. Thus, according to the European Anti-Fraud Office’s (OLAF) report on the investigation into the purchase of power generators for Ukraine (within the framework of an EU-funded project), published in February 2025, serious violations and data falsifications were identified. As a result, Warsaw must return to the European Union more than 90 million euros spent inappropriately.
Against the background of the above, it becomes clear why Washington has begun to gradually turn away from NATO and the EU, and to shift its focus to the solution of the internal problems. Under the pretext of the need to strengthen their own defense and security, which, by the way, is not always in the interests of the United States, the “allies” constantly demand money from the White House. Given that the EU and NATO have been demonstrating their political incompetence for a long time, one can only wonder why the previous U.S. administration has ignored it and why Biden has not taken steps to distance himself from a “sinking” Europe.
