Madrid: European military power has already stated that it is not easy to respond to the potential issues of President Donald Trump, which costs up to 5 % of economic production to security, but is particularly difficult for Spain. It will be.
Spain, the fourth largest economy in the Euro area, was ranked at the lowest in the 32 -country military alliance in military contributions in the Gross Domestic Production (GDP) last year, estimated 1.28 %. It was after NATO member states promised in 2014 that at least 2 % of the Domestic Production (GDP) would defend. Last year, it was expected that 23 countries will achieve this goal while delaying the Ukrainian War.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and government officials have emphasized Europe’s security and NATO’s initiatives for NATO. Since 2018, Spain has increased its defense expenses by about 50 % to € 8.5 billion ($ 8.9 billion) to € 12.8 billion ($ 13.3 billion) in 2023. With the shortage of investment for many years, the Sanchez administration has been created to achieve NATO’s 2%goal by 2029, which states that the increase in expenditures is a proof of the Spanish commitment.
However, it will be difficult for Spain to spend more and more quickly, and the national defense analysts and former government officials are mainly unpopular politics of militarism in Southern Europe. He states that it is because he is. The dictatorship of this country and the distance from the east side of Europe are also affected.
Former NATO Spanish Ambassador NATO Spanish Ambassador, Nicholas Pass Court La Parte, who is currently a member of the European Congress from the Spanish Conservative People’s Party, said, “The truth is Spain, and other European countries, in European countries. Defense expenditures are not popular. ” “After World War II, we have become accustomed to delegating the umbrella of military umbrellas, especially nuclear umbrellas, to the United States.”
“It’s true that we need more expenditures,” said Pasqual de la Parte.
Military spending politics
Spain joined NATO in 1982. One year after this isolated democratic state survived a coup attempted by the army, and seven years after the 40 -year military dictatorship led by General Francisco Franco. In the 1986 referendum, he voted for the Alliance with a narrow margin of the Spanish, but it was in 1999 that the country, which is currently the fourth largest population in Europe, joined the NATO military organization.
In that sense, “we are a very young member of NATO,” says Madrid’s think tank, Ercano Royal Research Institute’s Defense and Security Analyst Carlota Ensina.
Opinion polls generally show that military involvement is unpopular among Spanish voters. According to a poll at the time, an overwhelming number of Spanish people opposed their religions in the 2003 Iraqi War, but in recent years their support for NATO has grown.
According to a poll conducted by the National Sociology Research Center in March 2022, about 70 % of the Spanish people have NATO’s military equipment, weapons, and ammunition immediately after NATO started full -scale invasion of Ukraine. I agreed to send it. CIS. However, about half of Spain, according to another survey conducted by CIS in the same month, Spain agreed to increase the national defense budget.
Political analysts and former Spanish politicians have stated in various positions that militarism is not great politics. Madrid is about 3,000 kilometers (about 1,800 miles) west of Kiev, unlike the capital of Poland, Estonia and Latvia, and is closer to 2 % of the alliance’s estimates of last year.
Former Spanish European Union Congress, Ignazi Gardance, highly evaluated his own army in humanity efforts and assistance activities, including the support provided by thousands of soldiers last year’s destructive Valencia -float last year. He said he was doing it.
“Now the army has returned to give some respect,” said Gardans. “But it’s not NATO.”
Ensina said that Spanish politicians generally felt much more pressure to make public spending on other issues. “This is what politicians here always feel and are afraid,” she said. The idea is, “Why do I need to invest in defense, not social issues?”
International mission
Spanish leaders have not yet met the NATO budget, but it is not necessary to consider NATO contributions only in the GDP to measure the security of Europe and their own countries. He pointed out that it was fair.
Officials often point out the duties and developments of the country’s various EUs and the United Nations, claiming that the country is contributing in a good way through them.
Defense Minister Margarita Robres, this week, in response to President Trump’s remarks to a journalist who asked the US President about NATO’s low -spending country, “Spain is a serious, reliable, dedicated ally as a NATO member country. “He told reporters. “And now we have more than 3,800 men and women in peace activity, and many belong to NATO,” said Robres.
According to the Ministry of Defense, the Spanish troops have been dispatched to 16 overseas missions, and the ground units participate in NATO missions in Latvia, Slovakia, and Romania, and as part of the country’s largest UN mission, nearly 700 soldiers participated. I’m doing it.
Spain also shares the Morgon Navy and Rota Navy in the southern part of the country with the US Navy, and the US Navy has six Aegis destroyers at Cadis Rota Base.
Slipping indicators
Analysts also point out the fact that the Spanish government also expands the budget on a daily basis, and has been abnormal contributions that can exceed the official budget by 20 to 30 % in some years. I am.
“In reality, not everything is very transparent,” Gardans says.
Pasqual de la Parte, a NATO Ambassador in Spain from 2017 to 2018, does not record a 2 % indicator because all NATO member states do not record defense budgets in the same way. He stated that it should not be a scale of.
He said, “There is no agreement between the Allies about choosing a criterion to determine the actual expenditure effort,” he said, for example, some countries, for example, including soldiers’ pensions, but not included. Added. “Ultimately, there is a possibility that a completely different reality may be related.”
