Spain Firmly Rejects US, NATO Calls

(MENAFN) NATO member Spain has strongly dismissed demands from US President Donald Trump and NATO chief Mark Rutte to raise its defense expenditure to 5 percent of the nation’s GDP.

The Spanish government made clear its refusal to comply with these calls, emphasizing the impracticality of such a sharp increase.

Spain’s Defense Minister Margarita Robles told Spanish lawmakers on Friday that European NATO members are unable to meet the US’s expectation.

She labeled the 5 percent spending target, set forth by Rutte at last week’s NATO summit, as “absolutely impossible” to realize.

“Everyone is absolutely convinced that right now there is no industry capable of absorbing 5%,” Robles told the Senate Defense Commission. “We can say whatever we want, we can dress it up or disguise it, but no industry can take it on.”

Before the summit in the Netherlands, Madrid had already pushed back against the proposed 5 percent goal by suggesting a more modest military spending level of 2.1 percent.

Last year, Spain had the lowest military expenditure among NATO members, allocating only 1.28 percent of its GDP, in contrast to Poland’s 4.12 percent.

Nevertheless, Robles argued that this comparison is misleading and does not provide the full picture.

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