Spain threatens to block NATO 5% defence spending target in snub to alliance chief who demanded nations boost spending

Daily Mail​

6 hours ago

Spain 's government is preparing to block an agreement among NATO countries to raise defence spending to 5% of GDP just days out from a major summit, Spanish media has reported.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is pushing for members of the transatlantic security bloc to boost their defence spending to 5% GDP by 2032, after US President Donald Trump declared America's allies were shirking their responsibilities.
The proposal stipulates that 3.5% of GDP should be earmarked for core military spending with a further 1.5% dedicated to broader security-related areas such as infrastructure.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said he expected the agreement to be sealed at next week's NATO summit, set to be held in the Netherlands on June 24-25.
'We are very close, almost near consensus, on a five per cent commitment for NATO in The Hague later this month,' Hegseth said after a recent meeting with his NATO counterparts in Brussels.
'This alliance, we believe, in a matter of weeks, will be committing to five per cent... we think every country can step up.'
But El Pais reported this week that Madrid is set to send a formal letter to Rutte rejecting the proposal, which must be agreed upon unanimously.
For Spain, spending 5% of GDP on defence would mean boosting its annual defence budget by around €80 billion - nearly half the size of the country's entire pensions bill and a move the government is unwilling to accept.
Madrid has been signalling its opposition to a mandated defence spending increase for weeks, with Defence Minister Margarita Robles declaring at a NATO Minister's meeting earlier this month: 'We think that two per cent is enough to meet the responsibilities we have committed to.'
More than a decade ago, NATO stipulated that its members must spend a minimum of 2% GDP on defence.
The push to increase this threshold to 5% comes amid concerns over Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine and the Trump administration's desire to reduce Europe's dependency on Washington for defence and security as Washington turns its focus to China and the Indo-Pacific.
The US is by far the biggest spender on defence overall in terms - forking out a total of $967.7billion, equivalent to 3.38% of GDP.
But America falls behind Poland and Estonia in percentage spend. These nations contribute 4.12% and 3.43% of their respective GDP on defence.
The UK by comparison spends around $81.4billion, equivalent to 2.33% of its GDP, with Sir Keir Starmer 's government insisting it is on a 'path' to increasing this to 2.5 per cent.
But no member of the alliance is close to spending 5% of GDP on defence at present, and some nations - including Spain, Canada, Italy and Portugal - are still lagging below the 2% threshold.
Madrid is at the bottom of the pile, spending just 1.28% as of this year.
Speaking earlier this month, the Spanish Defence Minister said Madrid would not veto the decision to raise the defence spending target but said that the government would only focus on meeting self-imposed targets.
'What is important is that each country is able to meet the objectives it has set itself,' she added.
Now, however, El Pais claims the Spanish government will formally push back in a move that could scupper the deal.
Sources told the paper that Madrid is not ruling out Europe eventually reaching the 5% target, especially if Russia's militarisation continues, but said that it was 'premature' to set an official figure now.
'Spain is not in favour, and there's a coalition of countries that share that view,' one official said.
Earlier this month, NATO ministers signed off on new capability targets for the weaponry needed to deter Russia as they began finalising the 5% spending target.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius estimated the new requirements meant Berlin would need to add 'around 50,000 to 60,000' more soldiers to its army.
His Dutch counterpart Ruben Brekelmans said reaching the level requested would cost the Netherlands at least 3.5% of GDP.
'The new defence investment plan, of course, is rooted in what we need in terms of the hard capabilities,' Rutte said.
US Defence Secretary Hegseth, a former TV presenter, rocked NATO on his last visit in February with a fiery warning that Washington could look to scale back its forces in Europe to focus on the threat from China.
This time around, Hegseth said he did not want to 'get ahead' of any decisions from Trump as the United States conducts a review of its force deployments worldwide.
'We're going to make sure we shift properly to the Indo-Pacific and re-establish deterrence there, and then we're going to increase burden-sharing across the world,' he said.
'America can't be everywhere all the time, nor should we be.'