Spain obtained an exemption from NATO’s ambitious defense spending target of 5% of GDP after several days of diplomatic wrangling that drew scorn from Donald Trump, right before leaders of the military alliance gather on Tuesday.
“We fully respect the legitimate desire of other countries of increasing their defense investment but we won’t do it,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Sunday afternoon. The country can get defense expenditure up to 2.1%, “nothing more, nothing less.”
In a letter to North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Mark Rutte dated June 22 seen by Bloomberg, Sanchez said Spain will meet the alliance’s ambitious new weapons and troop targets, but without committing to the price tag that NATO had attached to it.
Spain will decide on how to comply with the targets and that the statement adopted at the summit will give Spain “flexibility” to “determine its own sovereign path for reaching the capability targets,” Rutte said in his own letter to Sanchez on Sunday.
NATO has said that 3.5% of GDP was needed to meet these targets, up from 2% currently, while an addition 1.5% in defense-related spending would help it reach Trump’s desired 5%. Earlier on Sunday, the group tweaked the draft statement’s language to “allies” commit to spending 5% of GDP on defense, from “we” commit, according to people familiar with the talks.
The adjustment introduced a nuance meant to provide more flexibility to the commitment, said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss private considerations.
Discussions on the summit statement “have concluded and the statement is now agreed by all Allies,” an alliance official said in response to questions. “We expect Allied leaders will formally approve this statement” when they meet at the summit in The Hague. The statement will be released to the public at that time, according to the official.
Sanchez’s opposition to the 5% target — calling it unreasonable and counterproductive for his nation — prompted Trump to deride Spain on Friday as a “low payer” that should step up on defense.
NATO members will meet in The Hague against the backdrop of Trump’s dramatic insertion of the US into Israel’s attacks on Iran, and as Europe awaits his decision on US troop levels in the region amid Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Allies had stepped up pressure on Spain to fall in line over the spending target, after persuading skeptics including Italy and Belgium to come around.
Sanchez has offered to increase defense expenditure to 2.1% of GDP but faces push-back at home, including from allies in his government.
“We think that the debate must not be around percentages but around capabilities,” Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told reporters in Brussels Monday. “We can reach the capabilities that have been fixed by the organization with 2.1% and that has been acknowledged and agreed by the organization.”
While Rutte initially proposed a 2032 date for reaching the spending target, the latest draft delays that to 2035. His wish to see mandatory yearly increases has also been stripped, which should make the process easier for spending laggards.
NATO’s existing target calls for member countries to spend 2% of GDP on defense. Under the new target, 1.5% would go to broader defense-related spending such as cybersecurity as well as infrastructure for moving troops and military equipment.
The agreed criteria are broad enough that all allies should be able meet that part of the plan quickly, the people said. The increase in core defense spending to 3.5% from 2% will be much harder to deliver.
As part of its routine process, NATO will review the kit and troops it deems necessary in 2029. The price tag attached to its capabilities could be tweaked at that point, potentially providing some breathing room for the lowest spenders
Washington has been pushing for an unprecedented defense expenditure increase, arguing that European allies must take responsibility for their own security.
“I don’t think we should, but I think they should,” Trump said late Friday about reaching the 5% goal, introducing some last minute uncertainty after the US previously said it would commit to the target.
