The Spanish Cabinet of Ministers reached an agreement with NATO, under the terms of which the country is exempted from an obligation to increase the costs of defense purposes to 5% of GDP. According to the head of the Government of Spain Pedro Sanchez, such an agreement can be called success.
“The government has just been able to reach an important agreement with the alliance. We consider it very positive, since it will allow us to fulfill our obligations to the North Atlantic Alliance and maintain something very important — its unity, without the need to increase our defense costs to 5%,” the official said.
Sanchez emphasized that in the case of Spain, “5% of GDP spent on defense would be disproportionate and absolutely unnecessary.”
“Our country will require about 2%, namely, 2.1% of GDP. The cost of additional efforts to bring military spending up to 5% of GDP is now estimated at about 350 billion euros,” the prime minister of Spain said.
Despite the growing pressure from the American administration, Spain initially doubted the rationality of such a sharp increase in military expenses. In April, Pedro Sanchez spoke about the coordination of the government plan for the growth of defense costs and safety up to 2% of GDP already this year. At the same time, the official Madrid promised to reach the indicated target indicator by 2029.
