(Adnkronos) – Spain, whose government is currently led by Socialist Pedro Sanchez, “will have to meet” within a decade the 5% defence spending target set by Nato leaders at a summit in The Hague on Wednesday, according to Italy.
“Spain signed up to The Hague declaration, so it will have to respect the objectives set by Nato for defence spending,” said Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani on the sidelines of a European Peoples’ Party pre-summit in Brussels.
In a declaration issue on Wednesday at a summit in The Hague, Nato heads of state and government pledged “to invest 5% of GDP annually on core defence requirements as well as defence-and security-related spending by 2035 – a major jump from the current 2% guideline.
Only 3.5% of that figure is meant to be achieved entirely through core defence spending on troops and weapons. The remaining 1.5% can be put towards “defence-related expenditure”.
Spain presently spends just 1.24% of its economic output (GDP) on defence – less than any other Nato ally, although eight Nato members currently spend less than 2%.
Sanchez came to The Hague insisting 2.1% of GDP was plenty to spend on defence. He told reporters after signing the summit declaration that Spain considered the amount “sufficient, realistic and compatible with our social model and welfare state”.
