Spain is after Pedro Sánchez’s proposal on the eve of the appointment. International media start their chronicles from Hague for the Spanish position, and ask politicians from different countries to be interviewed before the decisive moment on Wednesday by Pedro Sánchez’s decision. The voltage environment in the face of the Spanish position is very evident, but in case there was any doubt, Donald Trump, the US president, has been the most direct: “Spain is a problem, NATO is having a problem with them, and that is very unfair for the rest of the partners,” he said on the plane that took him to the Hague to participate in a dinner with the other leaders on Tuesday night and at the summit on Wednesday. Shortly after, always from the Air Force One, Trump has published another message on Truth even harder against Sánchez, this time even with his photo. The US president reproduces a press article in which he says “Spain threatens to derail the NATO summit.” “The US is in almost a billion dollars [de gasto]this is incredible, I will talk to NATO members soon, ”says Trump about the article, which contains a graph that proves Spain is one of the countries that spend the least.
From La Moncloa they answer hard to a clash with the US president who expected, because Trump is the imposition of 5% military spending that Spain sees. “Of course we are a problem for Trump, because we are the only ones who say that the king is naked, although many more think about it, and that we clearly oppose the absurd volume of spending that he wants to impose,” said executive sources as the first response to Trump.
In the president’s environment, they point out that, he says what the US leader says, with a very clear interpretation that the NATO general secretary left in writing in a letter: Spain believes that he can fulfill his commitments on military capabilities with 2.1% of the GDP in defense spending, and Routte believes that he will need 3.5%, so it has been agreed that Spain will have flexibility to study if compliance will be reviewed and 2029. In addition, the Spanish government complains that Trump demands 5% to NATO allies but ensures that he will not fulfill him in the US, a contradiction, according to the vision of the Moncloa.
In the rest of allies, nobody wants a total shock with Spain, but many countries, especially the most threatened, are visibly upset by the position of the Spanish government. “We all have to have the same commitment, those of us closer to the Russian threat and also those in the south, further, we must all do the same,” says Foreign Minister of Lithuania, Kestutis Budrys, who repeats this message in various media whose first question is always the same: what do you think of the position of Spain?
Since this Lithuanian position is the majority, Spain faces very few supports – for the moment only Belgium and Slovakia have been placed explicitly by their side and also reject the imposition of 5% – to a solid block in favor of this huge increase in military spending that is led by Trump and Mark Rutte, general secretary of NATO alignedly aligned with Washington, but also has the two European giants, Germany and France.
In a tribune published on Tuesday in the Financial Timesthe French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, affirm his intention to fulfill the commitment of 3.5% of pure military expenditure and another 1.5% in broader expenses of defense – yes, without setting a date for it – as his way of “reinforcing the European pillar of NATO”.
“We have to live up to the challenges (…) not because someone asks us, but because we are clear and we owe our citizens,” they emphasize. In a speech before the Bundestag, the German Parliament, Merz has influenced that he should consolidate on Wednesday in The Hague: “We do it together that we must be together strong enough for anyone to dare to attack us,” explained the German conservative.
Italy also, which according to Spanish vision can never meet that goal with the debt figures it has, far superior to those of its Iberian neighbor, has committed to 5%, so Spain is very alone, although also very convinced that it is the correct position. “France and Germany do not do it for Russian threat, but to boost their own industry. Everyone knows that 5% is not necessary, but only Spain says it clearly,” government sources point out.
For the sake of a unit that is the other great value that is to be reinforced in The Hague – “it is our most powerful weapon,” said the Dutch Prime Minister, Dick Schoof, during the defense industry forum with which the Dutch event has started – most European leaders avoid making an open criticism of the gap open by Sánchez. Except Poland, whose defense minister, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, has described “unjustified” the repeal negotiated by Sánchez with Rutte, considering that defense spending is a “burden that everyone should share.” “Making exceptions is detrimental to the unit of the alliance,” said the Polish minister in statements to the Financial Times.
That other senior people do not speak so openly about the Spanish decision does not mean that the issue is in the minds of all participants in the appointment in the Dutch administrative capital. “The Netherlands totally supports 5% in collective defense. The reality is that in today’s world, peace and freedom are not free, they have their cost (…) It is clear that European allies will have to invest more in their safety, we have to make historical decisions to increase our expense,” added Schoof.
Speaking to a group of journalists, including El País, upon arrival in The Hague, also the Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristerson, the last to join the Defense Club a year ago, has influenced the importance of spending more in the military field. And he has reversed the Spanish government argument, which insists that increasing spending up to 5% would imply important social cuts.
“It is wrong to say that you have to choose between spending money on defense or well -being. If we want Nordic and Baltic countries that now is time to invest strongly. Sweden has confirmed five years before the date that has been negotiated among NATO leaders for Wednesday’s summit.
The Spanish government insists that NATO already spends eight times more than Russia, without the US almost four more times, and the key is not to spend more, but to spend better, more coordinated and innovative. Spain is thus very convinced of its position, but at this summit it is in a very small minority and leading an opposition to 5% of Trump that no longer maintains any other of the large European countries, although in La Moncloa they trust that over time they will comply and will see the exaggeration of this requirement of the president of the United States, which by 2029, time of the review, should no longer be in the White House. UU.
