In a letter sent Thursday to NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed that Spain “cannot commit to a specific spending target in terms of GDP” at next week’s NATO summit in The Hague.
While most U.S. allies at NATO are preparing to back President Donald Trump’s request for member countries to allocate 5% of their GDP to defense, Sweden and the Netherlands have already expressed their intention to meet this target in early June.
A NATO official confirmed Thursday that discussions are still ongoing among allies regarding the new defense spending plan.
Sánchez emphasized in his letter that committing to the 5% target would not only be unreasonable, but also counterproductive. He explained that such a commitment would lead Spain away from optimal spending and disrupt the European Union’s ongoing efforts to strengthen its defense and security infrastructure.
Last year, Spain was the lowest spender on defense among the 32 NATO members, allocating less than 2% of its GDP to military expenses. In April, Sánchez announced that Spain’s government would raise defense spending by 10.5 billion euros ($12 billion) in 2025 to meet NATO’s previous target of 2% of GDP.
Sánchez has now called for a “more flexible formula” in regard to the new spending target—one that could either make the goal optional or exclude Spain from it.
NATO allies had previously agreed to allocate 2% of their GDP to military expenditures after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. However, NATO’s defense plans for Europe and North America against Russian threats now call for at least 3% in defense investments.
The new aim is to increase the core defense spending to 3.5%, which would cover essential areas like tanks, warplanes, air defense systems, missiles, and troop expansions. Additionally, 1.5% of the spending would be allocated to infrastructure such as roads, bridges, ports, and airfields to facilitate quicker deployments and strengthen preparations for potential attacks.
Rutte was expected to present a new proposal on Friday that would address Spain’s concerns. European allies and Canada are eager to finalize the spending pledge before the NATO summit to avoid any extended debates that could delay the meeting.
Poland and the Baltic states—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—have already committed to the 5% defense spending target, and Rutte has indicated that most allies are expected to endorse this goal.
A significant question still remains about the timeline for countries to meet these new spending targets. A proposed deadline of 2032 was initially discussed, but Rutte has suggested that Russia might be ready to launch an attack on NATO territory by 2030.
