Spain has rejected a NATO proposal to spend 5% of gross domestic product on defense needs that’s due to be announced next week.
Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, disclosed this stance in a letter sent to NATO Secretary-General, Mark Rutte.
He noted that Spain “cannot commit to a specific spending target in terms of GDP” at next week’s NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands.
“For Spain, committing to a 5% target would not only be unreasonable, but also counterproductive, as it would move Spain away from optimal spending and it would hinder the EU’s ongoing efforts to strengthen its security and defense ecosystem.”
Pedro Sanchez
The Spanish prime minister also questioned the validity of using GDP as a benchmark. “Capabilities are paid for with euros, not GDP percentages,” he wrote.
Most US allies in NATO are on track to endorse US President Donald Trump’s demand that they invest 5% of GDP on their defense and military needs.
In early June, Sweden and the Netherlands said that they aim to meet the new target.
Spain was the lowest spender in the 32-nation military alliance last year, directing less than 2% of its GDP on defense expenditure.
NATO allies agreed to spend 2% of GDP on military expenditure after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
However, the alliance’s plans for defending Europe and North America against a Russian attack require investments of at least 3%.
The aim now is to raise the bar to 3.5% for core defense spending on tanks, warplanes, air defense, missiles and hiring extra troops.
A further 1.5% would be spent on things like roads, bridges, ports and airfields so armies can deploy more quickly, as well as preparing societies for possible attack.
European allies and Canada are keen to finalize the spending pledge before the summit, and not leave it open for any heated debate that might drag the meeting out.
Poland and the Baltic countries — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — have already publicly committed to 5%, and Rutte has said that most allies were ready to endorse the goal.
Spain Seeks More Flexible Formula
In his message to Rutte, the Spanish leader stressed that he has no intention of limiting the [military] spending ambitions of other countries, nor of obstructing the outcome of next week’s summit.
As such, he called for “a more flexible formula” in relation to a new spending target — one that either made it optional or left Spain out of its application.
Sánchez wrote that the country is “fully committed to NATO,” but that meeting a 5% target “would be incompatible with our welfare state and our world vision.”
He said that doing so would require cutting public services and scaling back other spending, including toward the green transition.
Instead, Sanchez stated that Spain will need to spend 2.1% of GDP to meet the Spanish military’s estimated defense needs.
Sánchez said in April that the government would raise defense spending by 10.5 billion euros ($12 billion) in 2025 to reach NATO’s previous target of 2% of GDP.
When Sánchez announced that Spain would reach NATO’s previous 2% spending target, the move angered some coalition members further to the left of his Socialist Party.
Spain isn’t alone among NATO’s low spenders. Belgium, Canada and Italy will also struggle to hike security spending by billions of dollars.
What is yet to be known is the time frame countries will be given to reach an agreed-upon new spending goal.
A target date of 2032 was initially floated, but Rutte has said that Russia could be ready to launch an attack on NATO territory by 2030.
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