Sánchez raggiunge un accordo con la NATO per evitare l’aumento della spesa militare al 5%

The military spending is not mandatory anyways, I don’t know what they’re doing, if trump succeeded in something is to make people think (hell even NATO members) that it’s mandatory

> The Government and the Atlantic Alliance have agreed on a modification in the final declaration of the Hague summit in which terms such as “all allies” will be omitted. Rutte recognizes that Spain will have the capacity to decide the percentage of defense spending it deems appropriate.

> Spain will not have to assume 5% of military spending at the next NATO summit. The Government of Pedro Sánchez and the Atlantic Alliance have reached an agreement that implies a recognition by the Executive of allocating to Defense what it considers “opportune”, which will allow possible conflicts to be saved before the meeting of the allied countries to be held on the 24th and 25th in The Hague.
After intense negotiations during the last week, the Spanish Government has reached an agreement with the Atlantic Alliance that will imply a change in the declaration that is expected to be approved in The Hague and in which there will no longer be allusions to “all allies” or “each of the allies” committing to spending 5% of GDP on Defense, a demand raised by the US Government and that NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, planned to transfer to the summit to try to force a commitment from all member countries.
In an emergency appearance, the President of the Government said that the agreement reached late on Saturday was the result of a “discreet and effective diplomatic negotiation” and will allow Spain to “continue to be a first-rate global actor” that will maintain its commitments to the Alliance.

> Sánchez said that “every member of NATO” has the “right” to decide “whether or not he wants to assume the sacrifices” that would imply a 5% increase in GDP. “As a sovereign country, we chose not to do so,” he said.

>**Firm commitments**

>Following the agreement between Spain and NATO, the new English wording of the declaration to be approved at the Hague summit is limited to referring in a generic way to “allies”, without specifying an obligation for all countries to reach that percentage. The President of the Spanish Government had said this week in a letter addressed to Rutte that he was not willing to commit to that level of spending.
The agreement between Spain and NATO dissociates the commitment to allocate 5% of GDP to Defense of the fulfillment of the “capacity objectives” that each partner of the Alliance has. This is an important change, given that in the first versions of the declaration it was established that both commitments were linked to each other.

> This Sunday early in the morning, the Secretary General of NATO sent this new version of the statement to the allied countries, which had until 5.30 pm to pronounce in case they did not agree. The new version of the declaration will be formalized and approved at the summit on Wednesday.
On the other hand, Spain and NATO have agreed on an exchange of official letters between NATO and the government of Spain that has been held this Sunday at 15.30. In a first letter, Rutte literally points out that the agreement to be reached at the summit will give Spain the flexibility to determine its own sovereign path to achieve the capacity objectives, and the annual resources necessary for it, including the percentage of GDP, as well as to deliver its own annual plans.
In this way, NATO recognizes that the signed agreement implies that Spain can achieve capacity objectives as it deems appropriate, and that includes spending the percentage of annual GDP it deems appropriate. In his letter, Rutte confirms to Spain that the agreement will provide that flexibility.

> For his part, Sánchez responded to this note from the Secretary General of NATO with a letter sent this Sunday in which he thanks the “understanding”, makes it clear that Spain will not block the final declaration of the summit and emphasizes that this country will meet its capacity objectives, establishing the percentages of spending on Defense that it deems necessary and appropriate.

>**A very high cost**

>This agreement has generated a feeling of tranquility within the Executive, where they were clear that reaching the 5% demanded by the United States and NATO was nothing more than a “political imposition” with a high cost in terms of social cuts: the estimates handled by the Government indicated, for example, that an escalation of this type would mean a 40% cut in terms of pensions.
In his appearance, Sánchez stressed precisely that this increase would imply “returning to the nightmare of cuts and therefore to austerity” and would make Spain “increasingly dependent” on the defense industry of other countries. With those estimates on the table, the Prime Minister, who referred to Rutte as his “friend”, did not hesitate to call the agreement a “sucess”.

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1,28%

Jesus, i would be ashamed to be part of the alliance with those numbers.

Incoming angry spandiard downvotes but that is sadly the truth.

Honestly good for him and for Spain, there is no need to put artificial targets for spending just because Trump wants to gain points at home

He pointed out that Spain is capable of doing what the alliance needs from them in terms of deployment, and at them moment no one can really disagree

By 2035? Are they kidding? This is ridiculous

This 5% is for NATO excluding the US. For when they leave. Or we kick them out. So that we’re ready. Once they commit the final, ultimate betrayal

> allows Spain to “continue to be a first rate global actor”

Spain hasn’t been a first rate global actor since the 18th century or so.

As a Spanish tax payer, I honestly see no point in spending 5% on Defence when you have much greater needs in education, health, integration….

Dissapointing. What’s the point of being in a defense alliance if you can just decide not to make the necessary spending commitments.

As of right now, this current moment, understandable and if anyone “deserves” such an opt-out, it’s Spain and Portugal too I guess. Their biggest threats do not come from the east.

I only hope for their sake and all of ours that one day the biggest threat to democracy does not come from across the Atlantic Ocean.

Europeans will pay more because we don’t agree on an EU army?

Our fate is done!