Eduardo González
US President Donald Trump again attacked Spain on Thursday for refusing to increase defense spending to five percent of GDP. “I don’t know what’s wrong with them. We’re going to have to talk,” he stated. In response, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez pointed out that “Spain has tripled its defense investment” since he took office and said he was “delighted” to speak with the US president.
“Spain is the only NATO country that has not committed to increasing its defense spending to five percent of GDP,” Trump declared during his speech at the presentation ceremony of the “Peace Board” in the main auditorium of the Davos Forum (Switzerland). “I have commitments from virtually all NATO allies to increase their defense spending to five percent, from all of them, except Spain,” he continued. “I don’t know what’s going on with Spain; it seems they want to travel for free. We’re going to have to talk,” he added.
“Spain has tripled its defense spending since I became Prime Minister,” Pedro Sánchez asserted at the press conference following the extraordinary meeting of the European Council, held this Thursday in Brussels to address, precisely, Trump’s pressure on Europe regarding Greenland.
“The Spanish people, through their taxes, are allocating 34 billion euros annually to the defense budget in our country. In total, we are talking about investing more than thirteen NATO countries combined,” he continued.
“But the Spanish government, while of course strengthening its defense and contributing to collective defense and collective security, will not renounce strengthening public healthcare, public education, the national long-term care system, social cohesion—in short, everything in our country,” nor “official development assistance and cooperation with third countries,” he added.
When a journalist asked if he would be willing to speak directly with the President of the United States and explain why Spain would not increase its defense spending by more than two percent of its GDP, Sánchez responded emphatically: “When have I ever had a problem with that? On the contrary, I have always been delighted” to do so.
