The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, is in the capital of Türkiye to participate in the NATO summit.
Its main objective is to defend the national position and refute the repeated accusations made by the president of the United States, Donald Trump, regarding the alleged lack of Spanish spending on defense.
On this occasion, the head of the Executive will travel to the summit without the company of his wife, Begoña Gómez.
This absence occurs after the decision of Judge Juan Carlos Peinado to deny her authorization to leave Spain and withdraw her passport as a precautionary measure, within the framework of the judicial case in which she is involved.
The Government trusts that the summit will prioritize allied unity in the face of recent tensions, exacerbated by the Spanish position regarding the US operation against Iran, which the Executive considered contrary to international law. Added to this scenario is that Spain was the only State that last year refused to commit to allocating 5% of its GDP to military spending.
Given the possibility that the US president persists in his reproaches, Sánchez will use the alliance’s own reports. These official documents guarantee that the Defense Policy and Plans Committee confirmed Spanish compliance with the capabilities objectives for 2025, achieving a level of execution that exceeds the European average and partners such as Canada.
Government sources emphasize that Spain is the seventh country with the highest degree of compliance among the 32 members, the third in troops for peace missions and the first in contributing soldiers to the eastern flank.
These same figures will be used by Sánchez to try to dispel the doubts expressed by the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, about the viability of Spanish commitments allocating a maximum of 2.1% of its GDP to defense spending.
Intense commercial activity among defense companies
Within the framework of the summit there will surely be a meeting between the North American president and the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, who is already in the Turkish capital, reports Onda Cero special envoy Jacobo de Regoyos.
In parallel to the summit, intense commercial activity is taking place. Both European and American defense companies are consolidating transactions and signing contracts, an economic dynamic that aligns favorably with the interests of the Donald Trump administration.
In any case, the best indicator that this meeting will be a success is that the North American president does not leave before the end of the summit.
