Three years of escalating political instability all over the world seem to have caused the message to land with NATO: after three years of Russia's war in Ukraine showing the shakiness of Europe's defense capabilities, NATO is moving to increase spending to the 5%-of-GDP threshold that President Trump has been asking for.
Heading to the #NATOsummit in The Hague. Historic meeting at which all member states (except Spain) commit to spending 5 percent of their gross domestic product on defense in the future. A reaction to #Putin's imperialism. Will change European politics. #Nato pic.twitter.com/PSyU2Yq9VH
— Florian Harms (@FAHarms) June 24, 2025
So what's up with Spain? We'll come back to that.
According to German TV network Deutsche Welle:
It is expected that NATO members will vote in favor of ramping up defense spending to 5% during the upcoming two-day NATO meeting set to start Tuesday in The Hague.
Once adopted, all member nations except Spain will have until 2035 to reach the goal of 5%.
The agreement calls for at least 3.5% of national GDP to be spent on core military needs, while an additional 1.5% can be allocated for related expenditures.
So, the good news: since 2017, when Trump first started ringing alarm bells about NATO's dependence on the US taxpayer for its defense, the NATO members' spending has risen; eight years ago, when the President was shopping an alliance-wide 2% of GDP theshold, only Poland among the major powers in the alliance (nice try, Estonia) and the UK were over the President's proposed threshold.
After three years of war in Ukraine exposed the woeful state of European defense, things have changed quite a bit - mostly:
🪖 2025 NATO Summit starts today—here is each member’s defense spending as % of GDP. pic.twitter.com/ahlSU0sVUT
— Civixplorer (@Civixplorer) June 24, 2025
Poland still leads the way - and is well on the way toward building the largest land army in Europe. Tiny Estonia is digging into the role of David, staring at the angry Russian Goliath across its border. Most of NATO is above the 2% mark - just in time for the standard to jump to 5%.
Which brings us to Spain, which currently spends less on defense as a percent of GDP than any other nation in the alliance. Spain is governed by a left-wing coalition led by socialist Pedro Sanchez, of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE).
But I'll give this to Sanchez's government and party; what they lack in commitment to defense, they make up for in inventiveness. Because if you've ever wondered if there's anything at all that can't be tacked on to "climate change", the Sanchez government reminds us that anything is possible:
Apparently, Spain counted CO2 reduction spending as defense spending under NATO rules...
— Andrew Follett (@AndrewCFollett) April 10, 2025
No doubt AN INVALUABLE PART OF AMERICA'S GLOBAL SECURITY ARCHITECTURE! pic.twitter.com/N5jPxlu9v6
Again, from the Deutsche Welle story:
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez fought the deal. In a blistering letter to NATO chief Mark Rutte, Sanchez said the 5% figure "would not only be unreasonable, but also counterproductive."
Sanchez went further during a national address on Spanish television. "A 5% spending would be disproportionate and unnecessary," he said.
"We fully respect the legitimate desire of other countries to increase their defense investment, but we are not going to do it," he said, adding that Spain could meet all its commitments to NATO, in terms of staff or equipment, by spending only 2.1% of its GDP.
Climate spending is defense spending!
What next? Law enforcement? Perhaps I shouldn't give the Sanchez government any ideas (or, given the scandal-prone nature of Sanchez's government, it's next on his list?)
But not everyone in Europe - least of all from the parts of Europe that actually border Russia - is amused by Spain's sleight-of-hand and, shall we say, situational attitude about helping out its alliances. Mika Aaltola is a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Finland:
Spain took €140B during COVID. €100B in the euro crisis. Europe showed up.
— Mika Aaltola (@MikaAaltola) June 21, 2025
Now? It snubs NATO’s call to raise defense spending. Its socialist PM’s message: Your security is not our problem.
Solidarity isn’t a one-way street. Europe remembers. #nato pic.twitter.com/vd8zEdd1HD
