Spain’s prime minister says he wants to achieve NATO’s 2% target for defence spending this year, as it tries to catch up with other countries in the military alliance.
Pedro Sánchez announced in Madrid on Tuesday that just under €10.5 billion ($12.04 billion) in additional spending would be required to meet the target.
The head of the left-wing minority government said that parliamentary approval would not be necessary.
Until now, Madrid had only promised to reach the NATO minimum target “by 2029 at the latest.” With military spending of just under €20 billion, or around 1.3% of gross domestic product (GDP), Spain lags behind many other countries in NATO.
The member states of the Western defence alliance agreed on the minimum target of 2% of GDP more than 10 years ago.
US President Donald Trump is now even demanding that European NATO partners increase their military spending to 5% of GDP.
The 50% increase in defence spending is controversial within the governing coalition in Spain. Labour Minister Yolanda Díaz, head of the junior coalition partner Sumar, has repeatedly said that the rearmament sought by Europe is not the right way forward.
When making his announcement, Sánchez said he wanted to explain his government’s plans to parliament soon, even if this did not require its approval.
He called for “putting party interests aside and thinking in the interests of the country and Europe.”
There would, he said, be no cuts in social spending, and no additional tax revenue would be needed to fund the increase defence spending, partly due to the “positive development of the Spanish economy.”