Spain rejects 5 per cent of GDP target in military spending: “Unreasonable and counterproductive”

Brussels – First blow ahead of the NATO summit scheduled to take place in The Hague from 24 to 26 June. In a letter addressed to the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced that Spain will reject the request to increase defence spending to five per cent of GDP, branding it as “unreasonable and counterproductive”.

In the letter, seen by Eunews, Sanchez prejudges Mark Rutte that Madrid “will not be able to commit to a specific spending target in terms of GDP at this summit.” On the other hand, Spain, long the tail end of the Alliance (the latest available data for 2024 indicates spending of 1.3 per cent of GDP on defence), announced only last April that it intends to reach the two per cent target by the end of the year. And indeed, the socialist premier points out that “in recent years (Spain, ed) has been the fourth NATO country with the highest average annual increase in defence spending.”

Trump’s return to the White House, threats of disengagement from Europe, and Russia’s continuing invasion war in Ukraine have convinced Rutte to raise the bar for the 32 countries of the North Atlantic military alliance. But according to Sanchez, the figure that was explicitly requested by Washington—and which should be included in the summit’s final declaration—”is not necessary to fulfil our commitments to the Alliance” and “has nothing to do with the level of commitment to collective defence.”

Spain has calculated that a national expenditure of 2.1 per cent “will be sufficient to acquire and maintain all the personnel, equipment and infrastructure required by the Alliance.” Some “will have to reach five per cent of their GDP, others less,” insists Sanchez, “and this asymmetry should be respected by all means, because it is inherent in the very operating principles of NATO.”

There is another reason behind Madrid’s ‘no’: such a level of military spending “would be incompatible with our welfare state and our worldview,” Sanchez makes clear. For Spain, “as for other NATO countries,” reaching five per cent of GDP “will be impossible unless we pay the price of higher taxes for the middle class, cuts in public services and social benefits for citizens, and a reduction in the commitment to green transition and international development cooperation.” Sacrifices that, “as a sovereign ally,” Spain “chooses not to make.”

In closing his letter, Sanchez suggests Rutte adopt a more flexible formula—or exclude Madrid—to avoid the embarrassment of having to abandon the final summit declaration. A formula “that recognises the path of each ally to reach their respective capacity targets and make the expenditure target optional, or exclude Spain from the application of the expenditure target.” Sanchez has opened Pandora’s box, and now Rutte must hope that other national governments will not claim the same legitimate exceptions.