In June, Spain signed an agreement with NATO that excluded the country from NATO’s requirement that member states spend 5 percent of their gross domestic product on defense and related matters. “We respect the legitimate wish that countries invest more in defense, but we are not going to do that,” Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez responded at the time to American pressure to have NATO member states meet the 5 percent standard. In 2024, Spain will spend 1.2 percent of its GDP on defense, approximately 17 billion euros.
Sánchez is confronted with the wishes of NATO on the one hand and the political situation in Spain itself on the other. The left-wing partnership with which he is forming a coalition, Sumar, has sharply opposed higher defense spending.