The NATO summit in The Hague has started with an unusual tension: the president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has become the main focus of discord among the 32 allied leaders. The United States and NATO general secretary, Mark Rutte, have intensified the pressure for all countries to assume the commitment to allocate 5% of GDP to defense expenditure before 2035. Spain rejects this figure, which has caused the hardening of Trump’s speech.
Trump charges against Sánchez: “Spain is a problem”
From the presidential plane towards the Netherlands, Donald Trump launched the first warning: “There is a problem with Spain. I don’t agree, and this is very unfair to the rest”The US President has shown his outrage due to the fact that the Spanish government is the only one who has expressed his frontal refusal to the 5% target, well above the 2% committed in 2014 at the Summit of Wales. For Trump, that resistance of Sanchez threatens to dynamit consensus and weaken the cohesion of the Atlantic Alliance.
Already on land, the Republican president redoubled the message in Truth Social 1.28% of GDP A defense, the lowest percentage of all NATO next to Luxembourg and Slovenia.
Rutte pays Trump’s law and promises firmness
For his part, the new NATO general secretary, Mark Rutte, has shown a total alignment with Trump, both in tone and objectives. In a movement that uncovers the NATO Organization Secretary, Trump has leaked a Rutte message that promises the US president to “All allies will sign the 5%commitment.” Rutte even describes the initiative of the American leader as “extraordinary” And he acknowledges that he has “made everyone safer.”
“Donald, you have taken us for a moment truly important for America, Europe and the world”, Includes one of the fragments disseminated by the Republican, which converts the budgetary requirement into a matter of global leadership and hegemony.
“Sánchez, the new NATO villain”
The influential ‘political’ has entitled: “Nato’s New Villain: Spain”pointing out that Spain has replaced Canada as the main headache for the alliance due to its military infrainversion. According to the analysis of the newspaper, the rest of the countries, especially those of Eastern Europe, such as Poland or Estonia, will not tolerate exceptions and warn that the new commitment must be homogeneous.
“Let me know, there will be no exception for anyone in the document,” said Poland’s Minister of Defense.
The government’s refusal: “We don’t kneel before Trump”
Faced with international pressure, the Spanish government maintains its position. In Congress, socialist spokesmen have reiterated that Spain “He will not kneel against Trump”. Deputy Cristina López Zamora has defended that the Sánchez Executive “will not allocate 5% of GDP as some intend,” arguing that she would mean renouncing social priorities and investment in youth.
Beyond speeches, the reality is that the government has decided to stand up just before a key summit for the future of European security. And he has done it alone.
