Rutte, NATO Secretary General: “Spain wants to reach 2% (from GDP in military spending) this summer” | Spain

NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, states that “Spain wants to reach 2% (of GDP in military spending) this summer”. He said it in Warsaw this Wednesday, the same day when the president Pedro Sánchez appeared before the congress To inform about the increase in Spanish investment in defense. While Sánchez avoided marking the 2% goal and only reiterated that his commitment to reach it before 2029, Rutte was much more precise in an interview organized by the Warsew School of Economics and the Polish Institute of International Affairs.

“There are some countries (del Take) which are not yet 2%. I would like to say that since I arrived on October 1st (at the general secretariat of the alliance) things have started to change, but it’s not true, “he said.” However, something happened on January 20 in the United States (in reference to the inauguration of Donald Trump) and since then, look at what happened “, he continued”. The Belgians say they want to reach 2% this summer. Spain now says that he wants to reach 2% this summer. We know that Portugal and Italy are now having these debates. And I tell them: ‘I am calling you to change 2% this summer and that we can go collectively further, considerably above. Because we have to spend a lot, much more than 2%. I am calling you, “he continued in an ironic tone”, but he can call you a very patient of Washington if you don’t listen to me “(in allusion to the President of the United States). I would like to listen to that conversation, but I hope it is not necessary and I hope that all those of the No 2% They are having debates to reach 2% before the summer. “

Sources of presidency of the government have clarified to El País that what Sanchez told Rutte, who received in Moncloa on January 27, is that Spain “will try to approach the maximum of 2% in summer”, but that this will depend on the percentage of GDP in the military spending with which the exercise of 2024 is finally closed. What did not say in any case, according to the same sources, is that Spain would have fulfilled on that date. Technically, it is almost impossible that Spain reaches 2% this summer, since, in accordance with GDP at the current prices with which 2024 closed, this would mean 31,832 million defense. According to the latest calculations, according to the new metric used to quantify military spending, it would be around 21,000 million euros and there is no ability to perform such a voluminous increase.

It is no coincidence that Route made his statements in Poland, the NATO country that dedicates a greater percentage of GDP to military spending, 4.7%, above the United States. “The investment of Poland in defense in an example for all allies, not only because it is the head of the classification, but because it plans to spend even more,” he said. The Secretary General has reduced to the fact that the countries of the Atlantic residents of Russia are much more exposed to Putin’s threat than those of the South. “With the most advanced Russian missionistic technology, the difference between an attack on Warsaw and an attack in Madrid is only 10 minutes. We are all on the side,” he said.

Faced with those who doubt that Donald Trump maintains the commitment of his predecessors with the defense of Europe, the route has defended the firmness of the transatlantic bond, although he warned that European countries must take their responsibility with an equitable distribution of the accusations and discarded the idea of ​​reaching European autonomy in defense. “I would like to be clear: it’s not the time to go alone, neither for Europe nor for North America. The global challenges are too big for anyone to face them alone.” Without the support of his allies, he added, “the defense of Europe is unthinkable”, since “nothing can replace the nuclear umbrella provided by the United States”.

Although he indicated Putin as the main threat to Europe, since he did not give up his ambition to redesign global security architecture, he stressed that the Russian president is not only, but has the help of China, Iran and North Korea. The route insisted that “there is no alternative” to NATO and, lifting the tone of war of his speech, he warned that if Putin had invaded a square meter of allied territory, the reaction “would be devastating”. “Together with NATO, Europe and North America, they are and will continue to be unbeatable,” he concluded.