Thursday, March 28

Weapons programs trigger defense spending to comply with NATO


Spanish troops deployed alongside NATO units in Latvia. / Ministry of Defence

Of the 12,300 million budgeted, 26% more, 4,900 million are destined to pay for the modernization plans of the Armed Forces with frigates, planes and armored vehicles, which will generate some 22,600 jobs

Matthew Balin

The Ministry of Defense begins the path of growth in the 2023 budget year to fulfill the commitment made by the Government at the last NATO summit in Madrid: to reach 2% of GDP in military spending by 2029. The department it heads Margarita Robles will receive 12,306 million from the public coffers, an increase of 26% compared to 2022 -when they stood at 10,155 million-, which represents 2.7% of the general state budget.

This significant growth is due, fundamentally, to the inclusion in the total amount of expenditure of the Special Modernization Programs (previously called Weapons), which go from 2,800 million to 4,900 in a single year, 72% more. Without them, Defense accounts would increase by 8.4% to just over 7.9 billion, in line with other years.

However, it should be noted that the department’s budget is not finalist, that is, it is subject to unforeseen increases throughout the course that imply an increase in spending. This year, for example, from the initial 10,155 million to January 1 there has been an increase of 2,205 million until July through the so-called extraordinary credits, according to the General Intervention of the State Administration (IGAE). The most notorious credit was the 1,000 million approved in early July, after the NATO summit, given the drift of the war in Ukraine.

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The special programs to which 4,900 million from the next budget will be allocated are for the F-110 frigates, the S-80 submarine, the Eurofighter fighter, the H-90 helicopter or the armored 8×8. These projects are considered key for the national industry and their investment effort will create some 22,600 jobs directly or indirectly in 2023, according to Treasury estimates.

“cross” accounts

For the department of María Jesús Montero, the political justification is that Defense funds grow less than other more social ministries, such as Social Rights or Equality, but they are intended to strengthen our security and boost national production, two elements strategic for the state.

According to the schedule of the Stability Program that the Government sent to Brussels, compliance with NATO’s 2% of GDP is beginning to be glimpsed with these accounts, since next year this percentage will go from the current 1.01% to 1.1% and in 2025 it will reach 1.2%. In short, the Defense item, explains the Treasury, “is totally transversal, since it responds to a multitude of dimensions and perspectives: digital, industrial, international, operational and environmental cooperation”

However, the payment of salaries to the more than 150,000 men and women, military and civilians, who make up the Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defense eats up the bulk of current spending. Meanwhile, other concepts such as resources for bases, barracks, military buildings or equipment will go from 204 to 255 million in 2023 and the annual allocation for the European Peace Support Fund will grow to 94 million. The reason is the actions derived from the invasion of Ukraine: shipment of material and reinforcement of NATO missions.

After the tension generated last Tuesday in the coalition government upon learning of this 26% increase in Defense, this Thursday from United We Can they have lowered the dispute with a more pragmatic tone. The president of the parliamentary group, Jaume Asens, has stressed that the increase in military spending is a commitment of the PSOE with NATO that they neither wanted nor shared, but they must also assume the current “correlation of forces” in the Executive.


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