<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>President of the Government Pedro Sánchez has reached an agreement with NATO to make defense spending more flexible and, therefore, to avoid requiring Spain to reach the 5 percent of GDP target demanded by both the United States and the Alliance's Secretary General, Mark Rutte.</strong></h4> Sánchez himself announced this Sunday in a statement to the media from Moncloa Palace. "The agreement we have reached today is good for Spain and for NATO as a whole" because "it will allow us to fulfill our commitments to the Atlantic Alliance without having to increase our defense spending to 5% of GDP," he stated. In the statement, Sánchez reiterated that the 5% proposed by Rutte and US President Donald Trump “would be disproportionate and unnecessary” because “there are economic differences” between NATO members when it comes to fulfilling their “proportional” defense commitments. “NATO's working method has always focused on the contribution of capabilities and not on the percentage of GDP,” he recalled. “The key is not to spend more but to spend better and together,” he added. The agreement, reached after several negotiations, will allow for modifications to the declaration of the Summit, which will take place this week in The Hague. In this context, Mark Rutte responded to the letter sent last Thursday by Sánchez in which he requested that the declaration of the Hague Summit include “a more flexible formula” that would allow “Spain to be excluded” from this obligation. In Rutte's letter, the Secretary General states that "Spain is convinced that it can meet the new agreed capability targets with a spending trajectory of less than 5% (3.5% on core defense and 1.5% on security-related expenditure) of GDP." "In light of your letter, I hereby confirm that the agreement at the upcoming NATO Summit will grant Spain the flexibility to determine its own sovereign path to achieving the capability target and the annual resources required as a percentage of GDP, as well as to submit its own annual plans," Rutte writes. "Furthermore, the trajectory and balance of spending under this plan will be reviewed in 2029, in light of the strategic environment and NATO's updated capability targets," he adds. “In light of your letter, and in the interest of Allied unity, I can hereby confirm that Spain will accept the draft declaration distributed on June 22nd for the upcoming NATO Summit, with the understanding that Spain's commitment refers to meeting the capability target on time and in full, regardless of the proportion of GDP this represents, and to submitting our own annual plans accordingly,” he continued. Therefore, the declaration will avoid the expression “each Allied commits to 5%” and opt for a generic “Allied,” without naming the 32 Member States. Under these circumstances, Spain will be able to combine 2% of GDP with meeting NATO commitments, while the 5% obligation will be reserved for the remaining Allies. However, the text will warn that, in the future, this 2% could fluctuate depending on the commitments and objectives agreed upon by NATO members and how Spain's GDP evolves. In his letter to Rutte, Pedro Sánchez stated that 2.1 percent is enough for Spain to meet NATO's military capability objectives.
