MADRID (Reuters) – Spain will meet NATO’s target of spending 2% of gross domestic product on defence this year, much earlier than its previous self-imposed deadline of 2029, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Tuesday.
Spain, which spent just 1.3% on defence in 2024, the lowest among NATO members, and other European countries are under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, who is pushing NATO allies to lift military spending to as high as 5% and is reluctant to continue funding Kyiv in the war in Ukraine.
Sanchez said he would meet the goal through additional spending of 10.47 billion euros ($12.04 billion), with a focus on increasing the size of its military, telecommunications, cybersecurity and procurement of military equipment.
“This plan will help us meet (the target) in record time,” Sanchez said. “Spain will contribute to defending Europe.”
The European Commission has proposed allowing member states to raise defence spending by 1.5% of GDP a year for four years without punishing them for increasing their deficits, and wants them to pool resources on joint defence projects.
Italy said last week it will also meet NATO’s 2% target this year through a series of accounting changes.
Sanchez said he was sure the plan would be supported by most lawmakers, adding though that his Socialist-led minority government’s plan did not require parliamentary approval, as it mainly reallocates existing funds and uses budgetary savings, without impacting taxes or the deficit.
Increased defence spending will help reindustrialise the Spanish economy, drive technological innovation and create jobs, he said.
About a third of the new spending will be allocated to telecommunications, satellites and AI technology to create a “digital shield against the hackers”, Sanchez said.
Sanchez has argued that southern European countries have different challenges to those faced by eastern flank allies, and need to focus on border controls, fighting terrorism and cyber attacks, which he said should count as defence spending.
EU officials have said that while cybersecurity in general would not make the defence list, computers bought by the military to prevent cyber attacks would qualify.
About 19% of the additional spending plan would go toward modernising Spain’s defence capabilities through manufacturing and procuring military equipment, Sanchez said.
He said his government was responding to an increase in geopolitical tensions.
“If you had asked me years ago about my government’s investment priorities for security and defence, my answer would obviously have been different from the one I’ve just outlined. But that’s not because our values and our goals have changed; it’s because the world has changed.”
(Reporting by Inti Landauro and Charlie Devereux, editing by Aislinn Laing, Andrei Khalip, William Maclean)
