The recent demand for defence spending to increase in NATO presents national issues but international opportunities, according to Mario Fernando, Director of Geopolotical Think Tank inteligenciageopolítica. Speaking after the recent launch of Fundacíon Alternativas report on Spain´s defence spending and future policy, we sat down to get Mario´s thoughts on the report and Spain in NATO .
5%- A Fantasy Number
Mario stated that “What really impressed me was hearing Almirante Juan Francisco (Secretary General of Defence Policy) stating they are not interested in increasing spending but increasing efficIency. That was a shock to me.” These thoughts of the Admiral were echoed by co-author and Professor of Economics at Computense University, who called the 5% target a ´cifra magica´. “We all know that the 5% is political” but Mario acknowledges though that Spain “is coming late to increasing defence, just a few years ago 0.9% was our defence spending which is shocking.”
There is no will amoung the population
One of the key points that Mario was keen to stress is the perception of NATO in a Spanish historical context. “If we were accessing NATO, we were accessing the West, modernity.” But “right now, there is no will amoung the population to make strong increases in defence.” So how can Spain balance its international commitments whilst not completely destroying any public support for NATO? Mario recalls an anecdote that “Spain is a huge ship waiting to leave Harbour, waiting for action. There is so much wasted potential. There will be improvements in Spanish defence, we are getting to 2.1% spending no matter what.”
The Next Generation
For Mario, the key issue is how “we balance that”. In a country where intergenerational inequality is growing, support for NATO is overwhelmingly in an elderly cohort who would never have to fight and have seen their pensions untouched whilst a younger generation is increasingly unwilling to take another burden to placate old people. So what is the answer to this demographic cleavage? “The Welfare State will have to go back (reduce).” For Mario, the “reason the EU Next Generation funds are called this is because they are the ones who will be paying them back.” Mario sounds a note of warning though that “If we as societies abandon issues like housing for young people to pay for NATO, we are going to see, well we are seeing actually, the rise of the far right.”
It´s clear that the need to increase defence spending has no easy answers .
The full interview can be heard below. Photos used with permission of Fundación Alternativas and Inteligencia Geopolítica