Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told the NATO Public Forum that it wasn’t “fair” for leaders whose country is further from Russia to seek exemptions. “It’s a question of being united, of defending Europe, not Poland or the Czech Republic. I disagree with the idea of an opt-out for a country,” she said, without specifically naming Spain
Poland, which this year aims to spend 4.7 percent of GDP on defense, the highest in NATO, also isn’t thrilled with Spain trying to get out of the alliance’s spending boost.
“We believe that any deviation from this principle by any member country is a bad example,” said Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz before flying to the summit.
He called Poland a “model member” of the alliance and warned against countries such as Spain trying to broaden NATO’s definition of defense spending to include things that are not strictly tied to the military.
Domestic troubles
But the political headwinds in Madrid are only getting worse. Some in Sánchez’s left-wing coalition are opposed to shifting cash from social welfare programs to the military. And the prime minister was further wounded after investigators said they had evidence showing that senior figures within his party have taken bribes for public works projects.
“It’s difficult to get 32 nations to do anything together, but the whole point of being an alliance is to be a good ally,” said one NATO diplomat. “Spain has always honored its commitments but we don’t understand why” Madrid can’t agree now and spend the next decade building a plan for getting there.