NATO estimates that Spain has reached 2% of its GDP in defense.

BarcelonaSpain reached a 2% defense spending target relative to its gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025, according to calculations published by NATO based on figures compiled through June 3 of this year. This is the first time that Spain has reached the target that NATO members agreed upon in 2014, which was to be achieved over the following decade. In one year, Spain has increased its defense spending by 43.1%, going from €22.693 billion in 2024 to €33.123 billion this year.

Ten years ago, in 2014, Spain allocated 0.92% of its GDP to defense spending, and the trend has been upward (except in 2016 and 2019) until reaching 1% in 2020. The Spanish government planned to increase spending to 1.43% in 2023, the second largest increase after this past year. Along with Spain, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, and Portugal have also reached 2%. Thus, at this time, the 31 countries that make up the Atlantic Alliance already allocate 2% of GDP, and a further ten are between 2% and 2.1%. A year ago, only 19 had reached the target set by NATO partners in 2014. Poland, Lithuania, the United States, Norway, and Denmark, on the other hand, are the countries that allocate the most resources to defense: between 3% and 4%.

"As a reliable and responsible partner, Spain not only responds to the needs of the alliance by providing troops to NATO missions, but also fulfills its commitment to achieve 2% of GDP in defense investments," the Ministry of Defense said in a statement. Hours later, Defense Minister Margarita Robles echoed the statement: she emphasized "the extremely important effort" made by the Spanish government to reach the 2% target and pledged to "continue investing in defense." At a press conference in Berlin, where she met with her German counterpart, Boris Pistorius, Robles also highlighted Spain's contribution of human resources to NATO missions. According to data from the Ministry of Defense, some 3,000 members of the Spanish armed forces are deployed under the umbrella of the Atlantic alliance.

The 5% target

Spanish President Pedro Sánchez has stated on several occasions throughout this year that Spain would reach 2% for defense, which has brought to light internal resistance from his minority partner, Sumar. However, The head of the state executive branch stood up to the demands of US President Donald Trump., to increase this spending to 5% over the next decade, until 2035.

"Committing to 5% is unreasonable," Sánchez argued before the NATO summit held at the end of June in The Hague. The meeting ended with an agreement to allocate 5% of GDP to defense. However, the pact contained fine print. Of that 5%, the allies must allocate 3.5% to hard weapons, such as tanks, missiles, soldiers, and ammunition, while the remaining 1.5% should be allocated to security, which would include resources for the fight against terrorism, cybersecurity, and certain infrastructure. Sánchez left the summit explaining that Spain had only committed to reaching 2.1% of GDP, considering that with that percentage it could already meet the NATO military capability objectives. In fact, he claimed that NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte had given him special "flexibility" and that there was no need to reach 3.5%.