Spain's Defence Minister Robles defends NATO compliance as Lithuania warns of split over spending

Defence Minister Margarita Robles told the press that NATO commanders recognise Spain is meeting its alliance commitments despite criticism from US President Donald Trump. She announced a plan of 15 new military programmes aimed at bringing Spain’s defence spending back to about 2 % of GDP and will submit the plan to the Council of Ministers before the NATO summit in Ankara, where she will attend with the Spanish prime minister. Robles highlighted Spain’s deployment of roughly 3 000 troops in NATO missions, its leading role in the rapid‑response force and contributions to Baltic air policing and naval deployments, and rejected calls to raise spending to the 5 % target advocated by Trump.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda warned that NATO could fragment if member states fail to reach the alliance’s 5 % of GDP defence‑spending goal by 2035. Speaking in Berlin alongside Latvian and Estonian leaders and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, he cited countries such as Spain, the UK and Italy as being at risk of falling short. The remarks come ahead of the same Ankara summit where the alliance will assess national defence‑budget plans.