The additional funds will be released this year some 4 years ahead of a previous commitment deadline to meet the 2% target by 2029.
Spain has long trailed its NATO allies on defence spending, languishing at the bottom of the list with less than 1.3% of GDP spent on defence last year.
Sánchez said that ” what is at stake is something as serious as the security of Europe and Spain. Our partners are counting on us just as we were counting on them when we proposed solidarity during the pandemic.
The Prime Minister will be conscious that his left-wing coalition government partners will find this a difficult pill to swallow but he insisted that “a majority of citizens wants solutions, not sterile or self-serving controversies”.
The prime minister defended spending on defence as necessary. “Although we may not like it, there are state and non-state enemies who can only be deterred in this way. We did not choose this international situation marked by uncertainty,” said Sánchez. He also stated that this allocation only represents a fifth of the approved investment.
The announcement come amid international friction caused by the war in Ukraine and the call by US President Donald Trump for European countries to raise their share of NATO spending by as much as 5% of GDP.
The increase will be financed through the reorientation of some items of the EU Recovery Plan through the savings generated by “the good performance of economic policy.”
According to the prime minister, the plan will boost not only the military industry, but it will also increase GDP by at least 0.4% and create 100,000 jobs
Of the 10.5 billion euros in the plan, another 35% will be allocated to improving the working conditions, training and equipment of the military forces, “to bring them in line with those of the most advanced EU countries”; 31% will go to developing and acquiring telecommunications and cybersecurity capabilities; 17% to strengthening the army’s role in managing emergencies and natural disasters, such as floods or fires; and the remaining 3.14% to improving the security conditions of the almost 3,000 troops that are involved in Spain’s 16 peacekeeping missions abroad, under the flags of the EU, Nato or the UN.