Spain Delays NATO's Defense Spending Escalation
(MENAFN) NATO countries have settled on postponing the timeline to enhance military expenditures to the level advocated by US President Donald Trump, due to resistance from Spain, according to a report by a news outlet on Monday.
Mark Rutte, the secretary general of the US-led defense alliance, had intended to gain consensus this week for a new declaration that would boost the military budget goal from the existing 2 percent of GDP to 3.5 percent.
This figure included an extra 1.5 percent to be used for broader security needs, such as infrastructure upgrades like bridge repairs to ease troop deployments.
According to individuals with insight into the discussions, the news outlet stated that the initial target date was deferred from 2032 to 2035.
Additionally, the phrasing of the pledge shifted from “we commit” to “allies commit,” following Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s public refusal to support the initiative.
Spain is one of the NATO states that has not yet fulfilled the 2 percent defense investment benchmark.
On Sunday afternoon, Sanchez declared that Spain would not follow the bloc’s updated aims and would instead raise its military expenditure to 2.1 percent of GDP – “nothing more, nothing less.”
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