The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez warns that the EU efforts would undermine the expenses to build his own security and defense base.
According to reports, Spain has asked not to be accompanied by the OTAN defense spending target or 5 percent or GDP, increasing the interruption of a key agreement that is expected at the top of the next week.
In a letter addressed to the NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, in Thorsday, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez urged the Alliance to adopt a more flexible framework, according to media reports.
The letter, seen by the news agencies of Reuters and Associated Press, requested that the objective remain optional or Spain to be completely exempt.
“To commit to a 5% objective would not only be unreasonable, but also counterproductive,” Sánchez wrote, warning that he would undermine the efforts of the European Union to develop his own security and defense base. “As a sovereign ally, we chose not to do it.”
Sanchez insisted that Madrid does not intend to block the result of the next summit. But any agreement on the increase in defense spending must be approved unanimously by the 32 NATO members, giving Spain influence to delay or water the agreement.
Currently, Spain spends approximately 1.28 percent of its GDP in defense, the lowest among NATO members, according to alliance estimates. Although Sánchez has pledged to accelerate the country’s path to the current objective of 2 percent of NATO, he argues that going beyond that runs the risk of damaging the welfare state and compromising the broader political vision of Spain.
The impulse of NATO for a higher expense follows the calls of US President Donald Trump and others to share the fairer load throughout the alliance. Rutte has suggested a new formula that assigns 3.5 percent or GDP to central military spending and 1.5 percent additional to broader security needs.
Pressure to increase defense spending
It is estimated that the United States, the largest military taxpayer in NATO and the main sponsor of Ukraine since the invasion of Russia in 2022, has spent 3.38 percent of its GDP in defense in 2024. Trump has repeated the lovers of the allies claimed by the weight of Weandaat retain the support for those who fall in little fall.
Sánchez, however, said that hurrying to meet a 5 percent objective would force EU states to buy military equipment outside the block, damaging the attempts of the continent to strengthen self -sufficiency in defense.
The proposal also faces resistance from the political left of Spain. The Sumar Left Party, part of Sánchez’s coalition, opposes the measure, while we can, not in the government, but often a key parliamentary ally, has also rejected it.
“If the government needs parliamentary support to approve the expense, it will have a very difficult time in the current situation,” said Josa Miguel Calvillo, professor of international relations at the Complutense University of Madrid, talking with Reuters.
Italy has also raised companies, according to reports, to change the deadline proposed for the new objective of 2032 to 2035 and eliminate the requirement of increasing spending by 0.2 percent per year.
A high European official told Reuters that Spain’s rejection complicates conversations, but said the discussions are ongoing. “In fact, it doesn’t look good, but we are not about that Spain has proven to be a firm ally so far.”
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