The Spanish Prime Minister proposes a broader definition of defense, including cyber attacks, hybrid warfare and climate measures, thereby opposing the European Commission’s priorities.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Thursday in Brussels that the European Union should focus on strengthening its technological capacity to defend instead of building additional supplies of weapons. In the proposals of the European Commission (EC), it also disagrees about the future of defense of the block with terms such as “armaments”, reports the special newsletter TASR.
“We have to speak differently, reaching out to our citizens in a different way when we are talking about the need to improve security and European defense capacities,” Sánchez pointed out.
Spain and Italy, according to the Euronews portal, are currently also striving for a wider definition of defense definition. Sánchez argues that the defense expenditure discussion should also include measures in connection with border control, terrorism, cyber attacks and a hybrid war. He also pointed out climate measures as an area that should be added to safety.
South of Europe faces other challenges
According to him, the South European countries resemble other challenges than the Allies on the Eastern Wing of the Block. “These are the things we need to take into account when we are talking about new possibilities of financial instruments and fiscal rules that we will have for the coming years,” the Spanish Prime Minister said.
According to the portal, diplomats consider Sánchez’s attitude to be an excuse to avoid increasing spending on military technology such as artillery, air defense systems, drones and ammunition. At the same time, all these areas were described by the EC in its white book on defense as priority.
In 2024, Spain was one of the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO), which have the lowest defense expenses in proportion to GDP, only about 1.3 percent.
