The Defense Minister, Margaret Oaksis sure that the project of General State Budgets for 2023 will include the Government’s commitments in terms of Defense and the announced increase to reach a military investment of 2% of GDP in 2029. This does not believe that it will generate problems with its partners of United We Canwho assures that they have never exposed their criticism of defense spending in private.
In an interview, Robles recalls that the head of the Executive himself, Pedro Sanchezwas who pledged to increase defense spending during the NATO summit held in Madrid last June.
And so it has guaranteed that it will be reflected in the budget project that the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, present in Congress at the return of summer. “The Minister of Finance works perfectly, she knows perfectly what are the government’s commitments and I am sure that as he does he will always pick up the commitments”, she points out.
“In private they haven’t told me anything”
With this, he rejects that the reviews of Podemos to an increase in military spending could frustrate Sánchez’s commitment to reach 2% of GDP committed to NATO and explains that this will require a gradual increase of the budget that will already be reflected in the accounts for 2023.
In addition, Robles assures that within the Government each minister is “very respectful” of his powers. “And them in private they have not told me anything in the same way that I respect the competences of each one of them”, he reveals about the members of United We Can, who in public they have expressed their disagreement with an increase in the defense budget.
In this sense, the minister claims that this investment supposes “invest in peace”, in security and also bet on innovation and job creationespecially key in territories such as the Bay of Cádiz, Murcia or Ferrol.
“Invest in peace”
“The European Union is well aware that investing in defense is investing in peace and therefore Spain is not doing anything new or nothing different from what other countries are doing Europeans,” says Robles.
He has also argued that Armed Forces must be “well equipped” and its members have the necessary means and capacities, remembering their participation in numerous international missions or the work of Military Emergency Unit (UME) in fire fighting.