EU must be stronger, cannot depend on Washington’s shifting moods: Spanish premier

OVIEDO, Spain

Spain’s prime minister on Tuesday called for a stronger and more self-reliant European Union, warning that the bloc can no longer depend on “Washington’s changing moods” for its defense.

In a speech to Parliament, Pedro Sanchez cited Russia’s “neoimperialism” and the United States’ evolving military and economic policies as “tectonic shifts” in the global order.

“Every crisis has made the EU better, and today we’re facing another crisis,” he said. “We cannot assume that the US will protect our skies, infrastructure, or borders. We will have to do it ourselves with intelligence and coordination.”

Sanchez argued for deeper European integration in areas such as common defense spending, armed forces, and foreign policy, saying the EU must uphold multilateralism, peace, and human rights as global support for these principles declines.

“There should not be double standards. European foreign policy should be coherent, like Spain is with both Ukraine and Gaza,” he said.

The Socialist premier, who leads a minority coalition government, also pledged to meet NATO’s 2% of GDP defense spending target.

However, he stressed that the increase – from 1.2% of GDP in 2023 – would not come at the expense of social or environmental programs.

“We will not touch a single penny of social or environmental spending,” he said, noting that defense spending has already risen from 0.9% of GDP in recent years.

“We will demonstrate that the dichotomy between security spending and the welfare state is false,” said Sanchez, adding that Spain would benefit from the technological and industrial momentum surrounding defense.

He argued that outside of protecting the EU from Russia, it will also help Spain with more local threats like climate change, human trafficking, border control, and international terrorism.

Spain will focus its investments on upgrading military technology, modernizing air defense systems, and strengthening cybersecurity, he said.

Sanchez added that the defense push could also yield broader benefits through job creation, workforce development, business opportunities, and dual-use technologies.

“I know Spaniards want to protect Ukraine, but they don’t want to contribute to an arms race,” he said. “Europeans are not a threat to anyone. But we don’t want to feel threatened. We are not going to attack, but we will defend our lifestyle.”

He also urged the EU to undertake large-scale mobilizations of resources to adapt to the new situation.

“We are in a time similar to the COVID-19 crisis, and the EU should respond as it did then. We need common resources,” Sanchez said.