**”Agreement on 5% Target by 2035, Joint Statement Language Partially Softened”**
Spanish Prime Minister: “We Respect Member States’ Desire to Increase Contributions, But We Will Not”
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(London = Yonhap News) Correspondent Kim Ji-yeon – NATO member states agreed on June 22 (local time), two days ahead of their summit, on a guideline for defense spending that aims for 5% of GDP by 2035, according to reports by Reuters, AFP, and DPA.
However, Spain, which has the lowest defense spending level within NATO, claimed that it was exempt from this goal.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte proposed a combination of 3.5% direct military spending and 1.5% indirect security-related costs, totaling 5% for defense. He has been pushing for an agreement ahead of the summit to be held in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 24-25.
This aligns with the level of self-defense that former U.S. President Donald Trump demanded from European allies.
Though the 5% target is difficult for many countries, it is especially challenging for Spain, whose spending level was the lowest among the 32 countries at 1.24% last year.
Spain’s opposition has been the last hurdle to achieving unanimous agreement among member states. On June 19, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wrote to Secretary General Rutte, urging an exception for Spain, arguing that the 5% target is unreasonable.
Major foreign media outlets reported that 32 member states, including Spain, agreed on the new defense spending standard of 5% of GDP by 2035, citing NATO diplomats.
Shortly after, Prime Minister Sánchez stated in a TV address, “We fully respect the rightful desire of other countries to increase defense investments, but we will not do so,” asserting that Spain is an exception.
NATO diplomats stated that the language concerning defense spending in the draft of the summit’s joint statement has been softened from “We commit” to “Member states commit,” which Reuters noted allows Prime Minister Sánchez to claim an exception.
Additionally, the original deadline proposed by Rutte for achieving the target was 2032, but the agreed deadline has been pushed to 2035.
Bloomberg reported that in a letter to Prime Minister Sánchez, Secretary General Rutte mentioned that the joint statement to be adopted at the summit will provide “flexibility for determining a path to achieve (defensive) capability targets in accordance with sovereign discretion.”
Spain’s EFE news agency, citing Sánchez’s letter to Rutte, reported that with NATO allowing flexibility for Spain, Sánchez expressed his willingness to accept the final draft of the joint statement.
Prime Minister Sánchez is facing pressure from the left-wing coalition partner Summa Party not to increase defense spending. Sánchez argued that an appropriate defense spending level for Spain is 2.1% of GDP.