Spain must raise defense spending to 3% of GDP, says EU defense chief

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — A Spanish mentor for the Cabo Verde Armed Forces leads weapons training during Flintlock in Volta, Ghana, March 7, 2023. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Charles Brock via DVIDS)

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)