The leader of the Conservative European People’s Party (EPP) in the European Parliament Manfred Weber has joined the criticism of the dismissive attitude of Spain to increase investment in defense. According to the DPA report, TASR reports this.
“The behavior of the Spanish government is unacceptable,” The politician said in a comment for the German daily Augsburger Allgemeine. “Pedro Sánchez, a social democratic Spanish Prime Minister, favors his own political survival at risk of corruption scandal over Europe’s stability and security,” Weber stated.
US President Donald Trump before arriving at the NATO Summit in the Hague, Netherlands, which began on Tuesday, expressed dissatisfaction with the relatively low military spending of Spain and described them as “unfair” towards others. On the Truth Social platform, he also published a graph depicting the expenditures of NATO Member States in defense, while Spain is at the end.
Madrid allegedly reassured the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) Mark Rutte that it can meet new NATO goals In the field of defense, even if it spends less than 3.5 percent of GDP. Brussels, however, considers these claims unrealistic, writes DPA.
Sánchez’s minority government in Spain is facing several corruption scandals. The investigation is carried out, for example, in the case of former Minister of Transport José Luis ábalos, Sánchez’s wife Begoňa Gómez and Prime Minister’s brother David.
Madrid does not expect the consequences for his decision
Spain does not expect any consequences for its decision not to defend the required five percent of GDP. Wednesday said that Spanish Minister of Economy Carlos Cuerpo. The leaders of the Member States of the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) are expected to definitively confirm a significant increase in defense expenditure on Wednesday at the Haague Summit. However, Spain announced that it would not increase its defense expenses to such a high expenditure. According to Reuters, a special TASR reporter informs about it.
“Spain will be a responsible ally,” He declared Cuerpo and stressed that Madrid would fulfill his military obligations to NATO. “It should not have any consequences from fulfilling our commitments and that we are a reliable NATO ally, because we cover the capabilities we have committed to and which are needed to defend NATO against different threats,” explained.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Sunday that his country would not spend more than 2.1 percent of his GDP on defense, as such an expenditure rate will be enough to meet the Spanish commitments to the Alliance. The Prime Minister said that the proposed amount of expenditure is “disproportionate, unnecessary and not in accordance with the principle of the welfare state”. US President Donald Trump also expressed his disagreement with the Spanish attitude on Tuesday, according to which he is unfair to other NATO Member States.
