"Without a doubt". Mark Rutte has thus assumed that Spain will reach 5% of GDP in defense investment, which is the goal that NATO is already working on and will most likely be agreed upon at the Alliance summit next June in The Hague.
The statement by the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization occurred before the start of the European Political Community, taking place in Tirana (Albania), where Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez traveled after the earthquake of the WhatsApp conversations published by EL MUNDO. The Government leader, who did not make any statements upon arrival to the media and is not expected to, has not, however, obtained a truce from Rutte.
Despite the confidence shown by the Alliance's Secretary General, and although it is clear that the new required threshold will increase, making Spain's effort insufficient, government sources do not acknowledge it, even though the negotiation terms are very specific. Nor do they deny it. "We are now starting the negotiation," say sources from the Government, emphasizing that their commitment was to reach 2% of GDP this year, something they will achieve. "The Government will speak when appropriate."
The 5% investment, as already reported by this newspaper, will be sought with the 3.5+1.5 formula: the first three and a half points of GDP will correspond to classic military spending, and the remaining one and a half points will be what could be defined as soft investment. This second part could include aspects such as security or border control, which is something that Sánchez wanted to include as military investment and could boost Spanish figures.
The increase in defense spending is one of the government's main concerns, given the effort that our country has to make, which according to the Alliance was at the bottom of the table. That is why Sánchez has promoted the so-called Industrial and Technological Plan for Security and Defense, which presupposes an investment for 2025 of 10.471 billion euros, which in the Government's view would place Spain at the 2% that the Alliance has demanded until now.
But this threshold is already outdated because, as mentioned, the new target will be raised to 5% at the next meeting to meet the demands of Donald Trump and the deadline being considered is the year 2032. Therefore, once Spain reaches the goal, it will already be deemed insufficient and will require new, even greater efforts in the coming years.
In fact, this ambitious investment plan in defense and security matters raises doubts in the sector because of its scale and tight deadlines, considering we are already in May, there are doubts about its execution. When presenting it, Sánchez was convinced that it would be carried out.
For now, the Government continues its roadmap of not going through Congress anything related to military spending, playing with budget modifications. The commitments made by the Ministry of Defense were reflected in the last Council of Ministers, the total amounts of spending commitments to be incurred under the budgetary heading 'Real Investments' for the years 2026 to 2037, totaling more than 35 billion euros, which will be approved each year in Council of Ministers agreements. For example, for 2026, 5,507,931,608.07 million are planned; for 2027, around 5,679,668,867.19 million...