The clash between the EU and the United States has many edges, and one of the most sharp for Brussels is in its Washington dependence on the purchase of weapons. Treat, in a hurried way, to shape a defense strategy that allows improving its strategic autonomy. Despite the various proposals on the table of the European Commission, Spain asks to go further, asks for more joint instruments at European level, that allow to accelerate the expense in defense, in a kind of conjunction among more financing of the member states and a new issuance of joint community debt.
It is not the first time that Spain claims that defense expenditure must start from financed resources at European level, to the detriment of national expenditure. Madrid’s proposal would be configured as “A transient solution” Until this item is fully integrated into the European budget. The next one, the one that is currently brewing, would cover the period 2028 to 2034. So leaving the ambitions of the European rearma in this umbrella would postpone it too long.
It was the arrival of Donald Trump to the White House, which printed such ause. He broke the game board in the Ukraine War and put a geopolitical context already in case full of uncertainty. The proposal of Spain would thus be composed of Loans and aid, to finance large European defense projects. It would be a “temporary instrument”, with Contributions of the Member States, of a new joint debt issuance Community and other community financing resources, such as the European stability mechanism (MDE), known as the rescue fund during the financial crisis.
The proposal of the Sánchez Executive has been the object of debate of the informal ecofin that took place in Warsaw this April. However, it should be remembered that it is up to the European Commission to put on the table proposals to delineate the community defense strategy. To date, he has raised Loans worth 150,000 million euroshas opened the door for member states to suspend fiscal rules nationwide so that defense spending does not compute when meeting the deficit objectives (that threshold of 3%) and has urged to redirect cohesion funds to this segment.
The latter has not been an approach that has liked Spanish government too much that has influenced that cohesion funds have a functionality in territorial politics. And while the president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, was open to use the exception of fiscal rules, such a measure is not consumed. The little margin to get to that 3% limit predisposes Spain to use European aid instead of resorting to national expenditure.
Yes, he has taken a step in this Portugal direction. Last week he announced that he would activate the national escape clause to allocate more defense expense. Spain has not done so, whose role considers that the think tank Bruegel.
With respect to the escape clause, “The key country seems to be Spain, reluctant to defense spending and with a public deficit close but lower than the 3% threshold established by the EU fiscal norms. A Spanish decision by approving the activation of the would be a clear sign that this can be a first step towards the creation of more advanced EU instruments for both defense and competitiveness, “suggests in an analysis.
Another key Member State would be France, but its role has more to do with that fund of 150,000 million in loans. The same study observes that if the Elysee is inclined to use this instrument, “it would be a clear sign for the other EU countries. I could even push Germany Already other countries with performance rates of their bonds lower than those of European bonds comparable to using these loans, sacrificing short -term benefits in favor of a long -term European commitment. “
Meanwhile, the EU is looking for new partners. And the United Kingdom responds to the call to strengthen relationships, all after Brexit. The meeting between the head of the Community Executive, Ursula von der Leyen, and to the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, proposes to build ties on security and defense, among other sectors. The German referred to a “strategic association and defense association agreement” that could lead to London’s entry into the European Security Program.
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