Finance
Spain must raise defence spending to 3% of GDP, says EU defence chief
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on May 3, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on May 3, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
Spain is advised to boost defence spending to 3% of GDP to address Russian threats, with NATO allies expected to increase their budgets.
MADRID (Reuters) -Spain will have to raise defence spending to 3% of gross domestic product, the European defence commissioner said in a newspaper interview published on Saturday, as European countries bend to pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to spend more.
The 23 members of the European Union, including Spain, who also belong to NATO are expected to agree at a summit of the alliance in June to raise the defence spending target above the current 2% of national output.
Andrius Kubilius told the El Pais newspaper Spain's new target will have be to spend 3% of GDP on defence to head off the threat of Russian aggression in Europe, adding it would be the government's task "to find a way to increase defence spending in the near future".
Trump has called on NATO allies to lift military spending to as much as 5%.
Spain, which spent 1.3% on defence in 2024, the lowest among NATO members, said it would meet NATO's target of spending 2% of gross domestic product on defence this year, much earlier than its previous self-imposed deadline of 2029, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on April 2.
The far-left Sumar party, the junior partner with the Socialists in Spain's coalition government, opposed the increase to 2%.
(Reporting by Graham Keeley; editing by Barbara Lewis)
The article discusses Spain's need to increase its defence spending to 3% of GDP as advised by the EU defence chief.
Spain is increasing its defence budget to counter Russian aggression and meet NATO's spending targets.
NATO's current spending target for its members is 2% of their GDP.
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