«There is no cast at this time»

Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares has assured that Spain Example in military assistance to Ukraine And he did not need a proposal of the high EU representative for foreign policy, Kaja Kallas, to announce his help for 2025, before the plan of the head of the European diplomacy to contribute up to 40,000 million euros to reinforce the sending of military material to Ukraine.

In statements prior to the EU Foreign Ministers Meeting, the Spanish holder He has defended the contributions of Spain to the Ukrainian army Before the Russian invasion, emphasizing the announcement of the president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, of a new military aid package for this year worth 1,000 million euros, matching the game he contributed in 2024.

«Spain has not needed a proposal of the high representative for compromise one billion euros For this year, as we have already done in previous years, therefore, Spain is ahead in that sense and giving the example, «he said, before the Kallas plan so that the member states voluntarily mobilize a minimum of 20,000 million in military aid to Ukraine for this year, with an eye to reach» potentially «to 40,000 million, depending on the Ukrainian needs, and the view of the removal of the withdrawal of Washington.

The instrument It is presented as a voluntary vehicle whose total amount would be distributed according to the economic weight of each participating country, so Spain would correspond to 8.68% of the fund, or more than 3,000 million. That is, about 2,000 million more than those that have already compromised unilaterally.

Asked for this, Albares has stressed that «There is no cast at this time»claiming that the proposal is still in debate phase within 27.

«What I expect is that all make national contributions As Spain has done, «he said, ensuring that an important part is how to achieve this predictable financing for Ukraine, while the Member States maintain the effort to raise the expense in defense.

Firm commitment to 2% in defense

On the new path to reach 2% of defense spending, after Pedro Sánchez has confirmed that Spain will accelerate the investment rate In the light of the pressures at the EU and NATO level, Albares has avoided giving more details about when the objective can be achieved and if the Executive will take it to Congress.

«2% is a firm commitment, The government has been taking steps to it for many years «he has indicated, although he has avoided giving more details about when the new goal will be reached, claiming that he is not Minister of Finance.

Regarding the mode for Approve the ascent in the defense gamethe Foreign Minister has assured that «everything that has to go through Congress will happen» and that the members of the Government have no problem going to the Courts to explain this issue.