Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Sunday that his country has not yet promised to increase defense-related spending to at least 5% of GDP after news that NATO allies have reached an agreement on planned spending targets.
In a speech aired on television, Sánchez said that raising defense spending to such a level “will be incompatible with our welfare state and our worldview.”
The Prime Minister noted that Spain has only recently increased its defense spending to 2% of GDP, the last of NATO allies to reach the current spending target of the 32-man coalition.
Sanchez of the Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) said that this level of spending is “fully compatible” with the capacity required by NATO, while also being required by the maintenance of welfare states.
Spain has managed to change consensus within NATO, and most allies want to promise 5% of GDP related to defense-related spending is now aligned with the rights of other countries, Spanish leaders said.
His comments were posted on diplomats telling the DPA that NATO allies have reached agreement to increase GDP by at least 5% in defense-related spending by 2035, a plan to stomp the rubber at the leaders' summit in The Hague next week.
According to diplomats, NATO allies, including Spain, were brought to the board because the agreement includes plans to review the new targets in 2029.
Sanchez said that as sovereign states, all NATO members have the right and obligation to decide the sacrifices they want to make. “As a sovereign state, we have decided to oppose this country.”
