Sánchez announces his plan to reach two percent in defense this year

Eduardo González The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced this Tuesday an additional investment of €10.471 billion in Security and Defense to reach 2% of GDP by 2025. "Spain will reach 2% of GDP in defense and security this year," Sánchez declared during an urgent appearance at the Moncloa Palace following the Council of Ministers, where the National Plan for the Development and Promotion of Security and Defense Technology and Industry was approved. The plan aims to reach the 2% commitment to NATO and the EU rearmament plan by 2025. "It is a significant effort, proportional to the commitment we made in 2014—with a conservative administration—and to the challenges facing Spain and Europe," he stated, and it will be achieved "without raising taxes, without cutting a cent of investment in the Welfare State, and without incurring a larger public deficit." According to Pedro Sánchez, Spain already allocated 1.4 percent of GDP to defense in 2024 and will be able to reach two percent this year with this additional increase of €10.471 billion. The plan, he specified, will be published this Wednesday on the Moncloa Palace website and sent to Brussels for its technical and budgetary foundations to be evaluated by NATO and the European Union. Regarding the breakdown of these additional funds, the President of the Government specified that the Plan will be structured around five major pillars. “The first will account for 35% of the total investment and will be allocated to improving the working conditions of troops and sailors, as well as the training and equipment of our Armed Forces,” he explained. The second pillar, which will account for 31% of the investment, will be directed toward developing and acquiring new telecommunications and cybersecurity capabilities. On this point, the president explained that “every year, Spain is subject to more than a thousand cyberattacks on essential services and critical infrastructure,” which are not newsworthy, but “affect the operation of our hospitals, our airports, our electrical grid, and our businesses.” Although the most serious have been repelled, “the threat, far from disappearing, is growing every day,” he added. Therefore, he announced, "we are going to invest €3.26 billion in modernizing the encrypted telecommunications systems of our Armed Forces, acquiring new satellites, antennas, and radars, strengthening our civilian and military cybersecurity instruments, and investing in cloud, 5G, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing capabilities." "The goal is to create a digital shield for Spain" and to ensure "our security and our rights are protected against foreign hackers." Furthermore, within the third pillar, "around 19% of the total will be allocated to the manufacture and purchase of new defense and deterrence equipment," which will be more effective, efficient, and secure. We will do this, the president explained, "not to attack anyone. Spain is a pacifist country that believes in diplomacy; we will do it to deter those who might be thinking of attacking us or Europe." The fourth pillar, which will account for 17% of the total investment and amount to around €1.75 billion, will be used to strengthen the dual capabilities of the Armed Forces, so that they can also assist in managing emergencies and natural disasters. Finally, the fifth pillar will be to "improve the security conditions of the nearly 3,000 troops who make up the 16 peacekeeping missions that Spain currently carries out abroad, under the flags of the European Union, NATO, and the United Nations." "Ultimately, these €10.741 billion, distributed in five blocks, will be added to those already invested in previous years, reaching a total of €33.123 billion in Security and Defense, i.e., 2% of Spain's GDP," he added. The president also specified that the additional fund will be financed through "the reorientation of some items in the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan, such as the one allocated to Cybersecurity, with more than €1.3 billion allocated"; "the savings generated by the good performance of our economy, which in 2024 exceeded the forecasts of the Government and the main economic organizations"; and "the margin given to us by certain items that were included in the 2023 General Budget but are no longer needed." Sánchez is also confident that this new investment plan for Security and Defense will increase Spain's GDP by between 0.4 and 0.7 percent and that investments in research, development, and innovation (R&D&I) will increase by 18 percent, which, he stated, will create nearly 100,000 jobs, 36,000 of which will be direct jobs in the Defense and Security industry and 60,000 will be indirect jobs. Sumar and Podemos Following Sánchez's announcement, Sumar, the minority party in the coalition government, expressed its disagreement with the new additional fund for Defense and Security and even submitted a brief to formally oppose this measure. According to the party led by Second Vice President Yolanda Díaz, this plan "commits very high spending without a prior threat analysis or adequate European coordination." It also believes that "the purpose of the new allocation for the manufacture and purchase of new defense instruments, as well as its contribution to strategic autonomy, has not been sufficiently detailed." Therefore, although it shares "objectives, such as improving the conditions of the troops" and the need to strengthen cybersecurity, Sumar believes that the plan "represents an excessive use of resources without consensus within the government" and, therefore, "rejects its approval and requests its withdrawal from the Council of Ministers." The harshest criticism of this announcement came from Podemos, the minority party in Sánchez's previous coalition government. “Sánchez announces the largest increase in military spending in the history of our country. He will fulfill Trump and NATO's mandate this year at the expense of our welfare state. Rearmament is being accelerated, and the social response for Peace must also be accelerated,” wrote Podemos General Secretary and former minister Ione Belarra on social media. “Today, Sánchez makes the government of rearmament and war official, strictly following NATO and Trump's orders. The billions of euros that the war government will waste on weapons are a robbery from the people, who need that money for healthcare, housing, and pensions,” wrote MEP and former minister Irene Montero. PP and Vox On the right, the president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, defended the need to increase defense spending by up to two percent, but criticized, on social media, the approval of additional investment "without the agreement of his Council of Ministers, without a Budget, without authorization from Congress, and without providing details of where he will get billions of euros." "Spain needs a true Defense Plan, and Sánchez has presented one for self-defense," he added. Likewise, the leader of the far-right Vox party, Santiago Abascal, wrote on social media: "This sinister (referring to Sánchez) wanted to do away with the Ministry of Defense. And now, even though he denies it, he's going to raise taxes... to put our armies at the service of whom? Ursula's or China's?" "We must oppose this criminal government. We would like to avoid doing so alone. And we hope (against the evidence) that the PP doesn't side with Sánchez again. Spain needs security and defense. Primarily against Sánchez's allies," he concluded.

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