All 32 NATO countries have agreed to a communiqué from next weekʼs summit in The Hague, which includes a commitment to spend 5% of GDP on defense and security by 2035. Spain, which had previously rejected the statement, has also endorsed it, but says it will not spend that much on defense.
Reuters reports this, citing diplomats.
The statement will only become official after it is endorsed by leaders, including the US President Donald Trump, at their summit in The Hague on June 25.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez blocked an earlier version of the text, saying that committing to a 5% target would be unreasonable and counterproductive. According to NATO estimates, Spain spent 1.24% of GDP on defense in 2024.
Diplomats managed to overcome the Spanish prime ministerʼs objections by changing the wording in the text from "we commit" to "the allies commit". This allowed Sanchez to argue that the commitment would not apply to Spain.
“We fully respect the legitimate desire of other countries to increase their defense investments, but we are not going to do that,” Sanchez said on Spanish television on June 22.
- Spain has long lagged behind in defense spending. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez only said in May 2025 that Spain would meet NATOʼs current spending target of 2% this year when he unveiled a €10 billion defense investment plan. He had previously said Madrid would reach 2% by 2029.
- The US President Donald Trump has repeatedly demanded that European leaders invest more money in NATO. He has previously said that he would “encourage” Russia to “do whatever it wants” with NATO member states that have failed to meet their financial obligations to the alliance.
- Under the plan, drawn up by Secretary-General Mark Rutte, allies would commit to spending 3.5% of GDP on core defence spending by 2032 and an additional 1.5% on related spending, including on cybersecurity and defence-related infrastructure. Rutte initially proposed that countries meet the new target by 2032, but diplomats said the deadline in the final text was 2035. The target will be reviewed in 2029.
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