Spain has finally decided to catch up with its historical defense debt within NATO. The Government of Pedro Sánchez announced an ambitious investment plan of 10,500 million euros that will allow, for the first time, reach the 2% threshold of GDP committed to the Atlantic Alliance.
The gesture has a double reading: on the one hand, it seeks to fulfill a longly postponed promise since 2014; On the other, it responds to a deep geopolitical change, where Europe can no longer count on the umbrellas of the United States. “Only Europe will know how to protect Europe,” Sánchez said in a phrase that summarizes both the strategic turn and the new urgency tone.
Commitment
For years, Spain was among the most lagging countries in military spending within NATO, allocating 1.3% of its GDP to defense, well below the average. The commitment to reach 2% was assumed more than a decade ago by a conservative government, but had never been prioritized.
The new “Industrial and Technological Plan for Security and Defense”, approved by the Council of Ministers and now sent to NATO and the European Union, it is proposed to comply with that threshold in 2025. The program focuses on high -tech areas such as telecommunications, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and acquisition of advanced military equipment. “The enemy no longer shoots only missiles,” said Sánchez. “Use unmanned drones, paramilitary forces, misinformation campaigns and cyber attacks with artificial intelligence to destabilize our networks, our public services and our way of life.” The war in Ukraine, in that sense, not only redefined the conception of threat, but converted the European stage into a laboratory of the hybrid wars of the 21st century.
USA
The most decisive factor behind this European turn, however, is not Russia, but the United States. Since his return to power, Donald Trump has increased pressure on his Atlantic partners, demanding that they raise their defense expenditure to 5% of GDP. In parallel, threatens to reduce Washington’s commitment to collective security if European countries do not “assume their part.”
The NATO general secretary, the Dutch Mark Rutte, has openly recognized that these pressures are taking effect. Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Italy have accelerated their investment commitments. According to Rutte, the risk that American support fades forces a “unilateral and preventive” response by European members: “I tell you that now I am the one who calls to ask them for 2%, but if they do not listen to me, they may receive a washington call.”
This turn is not limited to the budgetary level. What is at stake is a redefinition of the strategic balance that governed since World War II. In that context, expense is not only expense: it is presence, autonomy and, above all, deterrence.
Spain
Pedro Sánchez’s position is part of this new continental consensus. In his speech, the Spanish remarked that the security of the east European, the Baltic and of the Nordic countries is also the security of Spain. The geographical distance no longer implies disconnection: Russian threat, Ukraine war and energy dependence have shown that Europe is a body with very sensitive communicating vessels. “Putin is a serious threat,” said the Spanish president. “His neo -imperialism affects us all, we are close or far from the front.”
The Spanish response not only seeks to meet an external demand, but also position itself within the European bloc as an actor committed to regional stability. In times of fragmentation, Spain and Sánchez seek to present themselves as part of the solution.
However, the turn has not been exempt from internal tensions. The Sumar party, government coalition partner, described the plan as “incoherent” and “absolutely exorbitant.” Sanchez was responsible for clearing doubts: he said that the increase in military spending will not imply taxes, or cuts to the welfare state, or increase in the fiscal deficit. But the contradiction between a progressive agenda and the European rearma does not stop opening an uncomfortable political front.
Uncertainty
The most repeated phrase in Sánchez’s speech, “only Europe will know how to protect Europe,” reveals the new spirit that begins to impose itself in Brussels and in the main capitals of the continent. The old United States dependence as automatic safety guarantor seems increasingly unsustainable. NATO is no longer an alliance between pairs, but a balance in permanent discussion.
This transformation occurs in a context marked by multiple challenges: conventional war, infrastructural sabotage, cyberconflicts and systematic misinformation. It is no longer enough to shield militarily: you have to protect electrical networks, submarine cables, satellites, personal data and social cohesion. The enemy is also on the screens.
In that sense, the Spanish plan points beyond tanks and airplanes. AND lOr that begins to emerge is a Europe that rearms not only out of necessity, but by conviction. In the absence of American guarantees, the Berlin-Park-Madrid axis charges more weight. Military investment thus becomes a diplomatic tool, a signal to the outside and also inward: Europe wants to stop being a passive actor.
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