Pedro Sánchez insists Spain can meet NATO capability targets below 5% GDP
Spain could draw the ire of US President Donald Trump at the NATO summit in Ankara as it refuses to budge on its defence spending commitment and its stance on the US war in Iran.
One year after the 32 allies committed to allocating 5% of their GDP to broad defence spending by 2035, and as the alliance meets again to assess their spending increases, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez continues to say he expects Spain to meet its capability targets while staying close to its current defence spending level of 2.1% of GDP.
The government argues that the focus should be on the capabilities Spain contributes to the alliance’s security, Alfredo Rodríguez Gómez, a former official at the Spanish Ministry of Defence who now teaches foreign relations at the University Camilo José Cela, told Euractiv.
He highlighted the deployment of troops on international missions, industrial contributions, surveillance of Europe’s southern flank, and the availability of strategic infrastructure.
