Spain wants exemption from NATO’s 5 percent defense spending target
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NATO allies will meet in The Hague next week and are expected to agree to significantly boost military expenditure, but Madrid is reluctant.
Spain wants a carve-out from NATO's likely future defense spending goal of 5 percent of GDP, the country's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said ahead of next week's high-stakes alliance summit in The Hague.
"Spain will continue to fulfil its duty in the years and decades ahead and will continue to actively contribute to the European security architecture. However, Spain cannot commit to a specific spending target in terms of GDP at this summit," Sánchez told NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in a letter seen by POLITICO.
Spain has the lowest military spending of any NATO member, allocating just 1.3 percent of its GDP to defense in 2024. Sánchez said earlier this year that Russia didn't pose an immediate security threat to Spain.
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NATO allies will meet in The Hague next week and are expected to agree to significantly boost military expenditure, but Madrid is reluctant.
Spain wants a carve-out from NATO's likely future defense spending goal of 5 percent of GDP, the country's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said ahead of next week's high-stakes alliance summit in The Hague.
"Spain will continue to fulfil its duty in the years and decades ahead and will continue to actively contribute to the European security architecture. However, Spain cannot commit to a specific spending target in terms of GDP at this summit," Sánchez told NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in a letter seen by POLITICO.
Spain has the lowest military spending of any NATO member, allocating just 1.3 percent of its GDP to defense in 2024. Sánchez said earlier this year that Russia didn't pose an immediate security threat to Spain.
What chicken shit reasoning they're using here.
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What chicken shit reasoning they're using here.
"It doesn't impact us". The most shortsighted, idiotic reason possible.
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NATO allies will meet in The Hague next week and are expected to agree to significantly boost military expenditure, but Madrid is reluctant.
Spain wants a carve-out from NATO's likely future defense spending goal of 5 percent of GDP, the country's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said ahead of next week's high-stakes alliance summit in The Hague.
"Spain will continue to fulfil its duty in the years and decades ahead and will continue to actively contribute to the European security architecture. However, Spain cannot commit to a specific spending target in terms of GDP at this summit," Sánchez told NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in a letter seen by POLITICO.
Spain has the lowest military spending of any NATO member, allocating just 1.3 percent of its GDP to defense in 2024. Sánchez said earlier this year that Russia didn't pose an immediate security threat to Spain.
Spain? Read the room.
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"It doesn't impact us". The most shortsighted, idiotic reason possible.
Isn't that the same reasoning that allowed Hitler to take so much land at the beginning of the war?
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"It doesn't impact us". The most shortsighted, idiotic reason possible.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]That is not the argument stated in the article
Sánchez argued that Spain doesn't need to spend 5 percent of its GDP to fulfill its so-called capability targets, meaning new objectives of weapons inventory agreed by NATO defense ministers earlier this month.
He also wrote that a 5 percent defense spending goal would jeopardize the country’s welfare system, force the government to increase taxes on the middle class, scale back commitments to the green transition and curtail international development cooperation.
“It is the legitimate right of every government to decide whether or not they are willing to make those sacrifices,” he wrote.
Rushing to 5 percent would also force Madrid to buy off-the-shelf equipment instead of fostering its own industrial base, as well as take money away from welfare policies, Sánchez also wrote.
The Spanish Socialist party is in a coalition with the junior left-wing Sumar party, which opposes increased defense spending and whose members are expected to attend a counter-summit for peace in parallel to the NATO summit.
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That is not the argument stated in the article
Sánchez argued that Spain doesn't need to spend 5 percent of its GDP to fulfill its so-called capability targets, meaning new objectives of weapons inventory agreed by NATO defense ministers earlier this month.
He also wrote that a 5 percent defense spending goal would jeopardize the country’s welfare system, force the government to increase taxes on the middle class, scale back commitments to the green transition and curtail international development cooperation.
“It is the legitimate right of every government to decide whether or not they are willing to make those sacrifices,” he wrote.
Rushing to 5 percent would also force Madrid to buy off-the-shelf equipment instead of fostering its own industrial base, as well as take money away from welfare policies, Sánchez also wrote.
The Spanish Socialist party is in a coalition with the junior left-wing Sumar party, which opposes increased defense spending and whose members are expected to attend a counter-summit for peace in parallel to the NATO summit.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]France is deep in public debt ( if they weren't in the EU, the world bank and IMF would have already stepped on the breaks) yet still makes the stupid 5% promise because that's what it is: a statement towards Russia.
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NATO allies will meet in The Hague next week and are expected to agree to significantly boost military expenditure, but Madrid is reluctant.
Spain wants a carve-out from NATO's likely future defense spending goal of 5 percent of GDP, the country's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said ahead of next week's high-stakes alliance summit in The Hague.
"Spain will continue to fulfil its duty in the years and decades ahead and will continue to actively contribute to the European security architecture. However, Spain cannot commit to a specific spending target in terms of GDP at this summit," Sánchez told NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in a letter seen by POLITICO.
Spain has the lowest military spending of any NATO member, allocating just 1.3 percent of its GDP to defense in 2024. Sánchez said earlier this year that Russia didn't pose an immediate security threat to Spain.
Huge disappointment from Spain
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What chicken shit reasoning they're using here.
It's an absolutely massive amount of money. And it's not temporary while there's a war in Ukraine, it's indefinitely. All because Trump pressured the rest of NATO and wants more money going to his buddies in the weapons industry.
Even without the US, European NATO countries already spend more than Russia and China (sources from 2024 and 2025). Just how much more should it get?
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NATO allies will meet in The Hague next week and are expected to agree to significantly boost military expenditure, but Madrid is reluctant.
Spain wants a carve-out from NATO's likely future defense spending goal of 5 percent of GDP, the country's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said ahead of next week's high-stakes alliance summit in The Hague.
"Spain will continue to fulfil its duty in the years and decades ahead and will continue to actively contribute to the European security architecture. However, Spain cannot commit to a specific spending target in terms of GDP at this summit," Sánchez told NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in a letter seen by POLITICO.
Spain has the lowest military spending of any NATO member, allocating just 1.3 percent of its GDP to defense in 2024. Sánchez said earlier this year that Russia didn't pose an immediate security threat to Spain.
A lot of knee-jerk reactions here so to provide some context:
The government will not do it because they are simply unable to. They were barely able to reach 3%. The ruling party and the PM do want to increase the spending but their minor, far-left coalition partner is against it. They would rather spend the money on social programs. The far-left party even voted to exit NATO altogether. They are simply not serious people. The PM finally managed to increase spending to 3% by using executive orders. They simply don't have a path to pass a new budget and increase the spending to 5%. So yeah, it's not the ruling party that's shortsighted, it's their progressive coalition partner who is against any spending on the military.
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NATO allies will meet in The Hague next week and are expected to agree to significantly boost military expenditure, but Madrid is reluctant.
Spain wants a carve-out from NATO's likely future defense spending goal of 5 percent of GDP, the country's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said ahead of next week's high-stakes alliance summit in The Hague.
"Spain will continue to fulfil its duty in the years and decades ahead and will continue to actively contribute to the European security architecture. However, Spain cannot commit to a specific spending target in terms of GDP at this summit," Sánchez told NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in a letter seen by POLITICO.
Spain has the lowest military spending of any NATO member, allocating just 1.3 percent of its GDP to defense in 2024. Sánchez said earlier this year that Russia didn't pose an immediate security threat to Spain.
Good, I wish NATO would disintegrate and European defence return to the competences of the European Union. I don't want my taxes to benefit the United States neither economically nor strategically. They've proven time and time again they want to go it alone. They want to be bosses of the world and everyone to answer to them. Fuck them.
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Good, I wish NATO would disintegrate and European defence return to the competences of the European Union. I don't want my taxes to benefit the United States neither economically nor strategically. They've proven time and time again they want to go it alone. They want to be bosses of the world and everyone to answer to them. Fuck them.
Good, I wish NATO would disintegrate and European defence return to the competences of the European Union.
"Return"? It was never really there.
I don’t want my taxes to benefit the United States neither economically nor strategically.
The 5% are not a membership fee that goes to the US. What the US most often got out of NATO was that they defined the standards and requirements, which at some point required American IP and American products to fulfill those. But in the end, the leverage they had was their huge investment in NATO that also benefited other nations; once the American investments end, other nations will fill that void (hopefully).
Restricting such an alliance to the EU would rule out members like Canada, for example
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A lot of knee-jerk reactions here so to provide some context:
The government will not do it because they are simply unable to. They were barely able to reach 3%. The ruling party and the PM do want to increase the spending but their minor, far-left coalition partner is against it. They would rather spend the money on social programs. The far-left party even voted to exit NATO altogether. They are simply not serious people. The PM finally managed to increase spending to 3% by using executive orders. They simply don't have a path to pass a new budget and increase the spending to 5%. So yeah, it's not the ruling party that's shortsighted, it's their progressive coalition partner who is against any spending on the military.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]I think the Spanish just need to get more creative with their spending or rather the accounting of their spending.
Edit: I'm more forgiving towards Spain for not meeting their goals than other nations because they seem to actually be improving the lives of their citizens, not just austerity bullshit.
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NATO allies will meet in The Hague next week and are expected to agree to significantly boost military expenditure, but Madrid is reluctant.
Spain wants a carve-out from NATO's likely future defense spending goal of 5 percent of GDP, the country's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said ahead of next week's high-stakes alliance summit in The Hague.
"Spain will continue to fulfil its duty in the years and decades ahead and will continue to actively contribute to the European security architecture. However, Spain cannot commit to a specific spending target in terms of GDP at this summit," Sánchez told NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in a letter seen by POLITICO.
Spain has the lowest military spending of any NATO member, allocating just 1.3 percent of its GDP to defense in 2024. Sánchez said earlier this year that Russia didn't pose an immediate security threat to Spain.
Meanwhile, Spain is the world's 8th largest arms exporter
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France is deep in public debt ( if they weren't in the EU, the world bank and IMF would have already stepped on the breaks) yet still makes the stupid 5% promise because that's what it is: a statement towards Russia.
Yeah, Macron and previous governments are also very interested in dismantling entirely the welfare state, all kinds of public services, public healthcare, retirement pensions, culture. Of course he is happy to push the military budget, this will make his rich friends richer and happier. This defense budget and military inventory won't do any good once it falls into the hands of fascist that are aligned with Putin!
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What chicken shit reasoning they're using here.
Spain has to deal with millions of pensioners from across Europe retiring there. Germany was complaining anout the drag on it's economy when hundreds of thousands of working age Syrians came into the county during the 2010's. Spain has to spend billions of euros every year caring for residents who don't work, need extra medical care, and displace actual working people. Their economy is incredibly weak as is, they can't justify spending 3x what they currently are on their military.
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Isn't that the same reasoning that allowed Hitler to take so much land at the beginning of the war?
And the same reason that allowed Putin to take so much land too. Appeasement and the "I don't care what happens in 10 years" mentality. People are ultimately shortsighted and having a detterrent isn't popular when it is working (i.e. why do we need to spend so much, there wasn't a war)
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Yeah, Macron and previous governments are also very interested in dismantling entirely the welfare state, all kinds of public services, public healthcare, retirement pensions, culture. Of course he is happy to push the military budget, this will make his rich friends richer and happier. This defense budget and military inventory won't do any good once it falls into the hands of fascist that are aligned with Putin!
wrote on last edited by [email protected]He did nationalise the electric and nuclear giant EDF, the french state did buy a majority share in Eutelsat. So it's not as clear cut a situation as it seems.
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Spain has to deal with millions of pensioners from across Europe retiring there. Germany was complaining anout the drag on it's economy when hundreds of thousands of working age Syrians came into the county during the 2010's. Spain has to spend billions of euros every year caring for residents who don't work, need extra medical care, and displace actual working people. Their economy is incredibly weak as is, they can't justify spending 3x what they currently are on their military.
Every European nation has to deal with waves of retirees leaving the work force. It's no excuse. The general solution is increasing retirement age & per capita productivity whilst cutting down on government spending in other areas unless they fancy debt financing. Different GDP strengths is exactly why it's a % goal rather than an absolute amount to keep things fair.
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Every European nation has to deal with waves of retirees leaving the work force. It's no excuse. The general solution is increasing retirement age & per capita productivity whilst cutting down on government spending in other areas unless they fancy debt financing. Different GDP strengths is exactly why it's a % goal rather than an absolute amount to keep things fair.
I'm not talking about Spanish workers retiring. I'm talking about English and German pensioners moving to Spain to retire. Spain and Greece have become to Florida and Arizona of Europe where they are stuck picking up the tab for people who never contributed to the local economy and are now draining it of resources. The only reason Greece meets their NATO obligations is because they are in an arms race with Turkey. It's one thing to care for your elderly parents when they start to get older. It's an entirely different matter when all of a sudden you are expected to care for some elderly couple that you have never met before.
