Eduardo González
The Council of Ministers has once again resorted to the Contingency Fund to finance Spain’s peacekeeping missions abroad, in this case for an amount of almost €700 million.
Specifically, the Council of Ministers authorized on Tuesday the application of the Contingency Fund for an amount of €698,503,198.89 to finance budget modifications, with the aim of covering the expenses incurred by the participation of the Spanish Armed Forces in peacekeeping operations.
The Council of Ministers reiterated that the various missions in which the Spanish Armed Forces participate “address the following three major strategic objectives: providing stability and security, combating terrorism, and deterring and defending allied territory.”
To achieve these strategic objectives, the Council of Ministers approved on December 23, 2025, the extension, until the end of this year, of a series of operations. Some of these operations involve the participation of the Spanish Armed Forces and Civil Guard in missions outside of Spain or in deterrence and defense missions within the framework of NATO forces. Cooperation and bilateral security activities were also extended to strengthen security capabilities and prevent conflicts in areas of Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.
Furthermore, the agreement established a limit of 400 observers, monitors, liaison officers, or military advisors that Spain may deploy until December 31, 2026, at the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to contribute to diplomatic, crisis management, peacekeeping, or humanitarian aid missions, and to fulfill commitments that Spain may undertake within the multilateral framework in light of the progress of the peace processes in the Gaza Strip.
Another agreement extended, until December 31, 2026, the authorization for short-term deployments abroad of the Military Emergency Unit (UME) and other units of the Armed Forces in response to situations of serious risk, catastrophes and calamities, or other needs in support of urgent bilateral requests within the framework of shared interests with partner and allied countries. Therefore, in accordance with Article 50.2 of the General Budget Law of 2003, the application of the Contingency Fund has been requested from the Council of Ministers.
The Contingency Fund
The Contingency Fund is a credit extension mechanism to address unforeseen situations, which the Government frequently uses (especially since 1998) to finance operations abroad, as the General State Budget typically allocates a very small amount to these missions. Parliamentary groups have repeatedly requested in Congress that this model be changed and that the financing of these missions also be included in the Defense allocation of the General State Budget.
In April 2017, the Ministry of Defense (then headed by Dolores de Cospedal) obtained a contingency fund of over 704 million euros. Similarly, the 2018 budget allocated a mere €314 million for peacekeeping missions, forcing the government to approve two contingency funds totaling over €785 million (€550 million and €235 million respectively) in March (under Mariano Rajoy) and October (under Pedro Sánchez) to finance these operations.
Furthermore, in April 2019, the Council of Ministers approved a contingency fund of nearly €550 million for the Ministry of Defense to cover the expenses incurred by peacekeeping missions, and in July 2022, the Council of Ministers authorized a contingency fund of almost €1 billion, as well as an extraordinary credit to the Ministry of Defense, to “cover the extraordinary expenses of the Armed Forces caused by the invasion of Ukraine.” This required overcoming the staunch opposition of Unidas Podemos, the then junior partner in the coalition government.
In 2023, the Council of Ministers authorized two more operations of this type: in April, with a contingency fund of over €581 million to cover the expenses incurred by the participation of the Spanish Armed Forces in peacekeeping operations; and in July, with another contingency fund of almost €472 million for the same purpose.
In 2024, three more operations were approved to cover the expenses incurred by the participation of the Spanish Armed Forces in peacekeeping operations: the first, in April, for a total amount of over €581 million; the second, in June, for an amount of over €332.5 million; and the third, in July, for a total amount of almost €564 million.
In 2025, the Council of Ministers authorized the use of the Contingency Fund in February for an amount slightly exceeding €567 million. That operation took place after the Council of Ministers, on December 17, 2024, extended the participation of the Spanish Armed Forces and Civil Guard in a series of operations outside of Spain until December 31, 2025. Furthermore, at the end of May, the Contingency Fund was again used to finance Spain’s peacekeeping missions abroad, this time for an amount of almost €650 million, and in July, the Contingency Fund was again approved for an amount of more than €497 million for the same purpose.