Spain increases defense funding - Vows to spend 2% of GDP within the year
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said his government will meet NATO's target of 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) for defense spending this year, well ahead of the previous deadline of 2029.
Sanchez announced a plan to increase spending by 10.47 billion euros, focusing on telecommunications, cybersecurity and the purchase of military equipment.
US President Donald Trump is pushing NATO allies to increase military spending to 5% of GDP. The European Commission has proposed that member states increase defense spending by 1.5% of GDP per year for four years without penalizing governments for increasing their budget deficits.
Spain spent just 1.3% of its gross domestic product on defense in 2024, the lowest among member states. Reaching 2% would require spending of around 10 billion euros more per year. Sanchez's plan will have to be approved by congress, where his Socialist-led government currently lacks a majority.
Last week, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said in a speech in Warsaw that Spain would meet the alliance's 2% target by the summer. That prompted the Spanish government to tell Rutte it would do its best to get closer to the target by then, according to a government source.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has assured the alliance that Spain will play its part in Europe's efforts to strengthen defenses, but he has also argued that countries geographically further from Russia should focus their spending on countering cyberattacks, rather than stockpiling weapons.
In his comments, Rutte criticized what he called "a kind of two-tier NATO," with countries on the eastern flank that are more exposed to a possible attack from Russia spending much more on defense than others. Rutte added that "the difference between a missile attack on Warsaw or Madrid is 10 minutes."
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