<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The President of the Government Pedro Sánchez will appear before the Congress this coming Wednesday to discuss the latest developments in security and defense in the European Union, after committing to his European partners to increase spending on this area to two percent of GDP by the planned date of 2029.</strong></h4> The appearance will take place almost a week after the presentation, during the European Council in Brussels, of the White Paper on Defense and the initial proposals of the Commission's plan to rearm Europe. On March 13, Sánchez held a round of meetings with all parliamentary groups (except Vox) to address these issues. At the end of those meetings, the Prime Minister assured that Spain is "prepared to comply with the defense budget of 2 percent of GDP," but he also warned that the Government was not yet in a position to provide specific dates or figures, and that he himself would not do so in his appearance before Congress, because Spain's defense budget according to NATO metrics is not yet known. The 2023 budget was 1.28 percent of GDP, but the 2024 figure is not yet known, he specified. At the next NATO summit, to be held in June in The Hague, "the degree of compliance with that 2 percent will be substantiated," he added. Furthermore, as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares (who will be present in the Chamber), recalled, there is currently a debate within the EU "about what portion corresponds to national budgets" and what portion corresponds to the possible European funding plan. In this regard, Sánchez recalled that same day, and thus conveyed this to the parliamentary groups, that Spain has defended before the EU that the €150 billion financial instrument proposed by the European Commission to help member states increase their defense spending "be provided not only through loans, but also through transfers." <h5><strong>A very tense outlook with the PP and its allies</strong></h5> The truth is that Pedro Sánchez is going to encounter a certainly tense environment in his appearance. After the June 13 meeting, the president of the People’s Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, denounced that the Prime Minister had not given him "anything" and had shown him that the government "has no plan" to increase military investment. "The government doesn't have a plan, or doesn't know how to do it, or doesn't want to share it," Feijóo insisted. "I don't believe that the fourth-largest economy in the eurozone doesn't have a guideline for how much it needs to increase spending," he added. “We've gone two years without a budget, and that's not compatible with the billions in investments we're being asked to make,” he warned. “It's pawning off large amounts of January funds that future governments will have to assume. It's the opposite of democracy,” Feijóo denounced, who also demanded that any agreements adopted be “endorsed by Congress,” because “only Congress has the power to control and approve government spending.” As Pedro Sánchez himself has hinted, both publicly and during his meetings with the groups, everything indicates that he has no intention of seeking Parliament's consent to push forward with his plan to increase the defense budget. The other major obstacle will come to Sánchez from his supposed parliamentary support, including from his own partner in the coalition government, Sumar. The Prime Minister held a meeting on March 12 (one day before his meetings with the groups) with the Second Vice President and leader of Sumar, Yolanda Díaz, to discuss precisely this issue. During this meeting, Sánchez assured that the increase in defense investment will not affect social spending, and Díaz insisted that the real priority is to move toward European sovereignty to overcome "dependence on NATO and the US." She warned that increased defense spending by member states "does not guarantee overcoming the problems of coordination and lack of interoperability between the Armed Forces of the different EU countries," nor does it guarantee "greater strategic autonomy or greater shared security." The debate "is not about raising or lowering the military or defense budget in Europe, but rather about reorganizing defense policy in Europe," she declared a few days earlier in Brussels. This past Thursday, March 20, Sumar joined its votes in Congress with a BNG motion urging the government to reject the €800 billion fund proposed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for defense spending and arms purchases and to "renounce the Spanish state's participation in NATO." After that vote, Pedro Sánchez declared in the press conference following the European Council that the position of his "government partner, Sumar," is part of the "historical political disagreements in Spanish politics" and the traditional stance of the Spanish left on defense matters. "The Communist Party had it, Izquierda Unida had it with its rejection of NATO, Podemos has it, and now Sumar has it, but there are two things I am grateful for in Sumar: its respect for Spain's European commitments—and this is a European commitment—contributing to security and defense, and continuing to support the social agenda," he added. Meanwhile, Podemos leader Ione Belarra (a former minister under Pedro Sánchez) warned after meeting with the Prime Minister that it would be "a catastrophic mistake to commit to increasing military spending" because "every euro we're going to allocate to increasing defense and weapons spending is a euro we're not going to allocate to our public healthcare and improving our public housing stock, which is what the people of this country need." "I have conveyed our utmost opposition" to Pedro Sánchez, she added.
