1 week Ago By Ot Serra
For now, Last week, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte rejected the idea that investment in cybersecurity, terrorism, and border control could be counted as a percentage of GDP in the defense budget. This Tuesday, the Council of Ministers is already moving a €2.084 billion allocation to the ministry headed by Margarita Robles.
This amount will no longer be included in the 2024 financial year because NATO provides figures on what was spent during the year in question, but Spain is making a gesture that will also be included in strictly military spending. As explained On Saturday, the vast majority of that money will go to weapons: 870 million for a state-of-the-art defense equipment modernization program and another 803 million for the integrated training system for the Air Force and Space Force, the anti-missile point defense system to protect naval vessels, and also for maintenance. The rest, as sources from the ministry also confirm in the ARA, will be dedicated to logistical support programs and ministry management issues, research, and hospital care.
Where does this money come from? Sources from the Ministry of Finance emphasize that it comes from items from other departments that were lump sum payments. As the current budgets are the 2023 carryovers, this money was already being spent at the time for an allocation that has already been satisfied and, therefore, can now be redirected elsewhere. What the Treasury has done is accumulate several items from the extended budget that were no longer due and allocate them to Defense, adding up to 2.
084 billion. As for the military programs to be funded, they were already included in the extended 2023 budget. And didn't they already have a budget? Yes, but the Spanish government explains that these are contracts in which the amount increases year by year, and therefore, it was now necessary to send more budget.
Not going through Congress This is the formula through which, for the time being, the Spanish government can increase defense spending without having to go through Congress. This is not a credit modification, which would require the approval of the lower house, but rather a movement between ministries for which the Executive has the authority. In fact, in recent months, it has already been increasing the defense budget in this way.
At the same time, Sánchez promised in his appearance in Congress two weeks ago that It did not specify how it would be financed. It still remains to be seen how the European Union will be involved in financing the Member States' efforts and how much will have to come from state coffers..
