NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg advocated a permanent increase in military investment in Madrid this Monday and said the commitment to dedicate 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) to the defense budget “is not a ceiling” but rather a “threshold”.

Stoltenberg took part in the NATO Parliamentary Assembly this Monday and before representatives of 30 allied countries called for increased military spending to better respond to challenges, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine showed.

This issue will be central to next year’s NATO summit in Lithuania, when a decade ago the commitment made by allies in 2014 in Wales to reach 2% of military investment per decade will be fulfilled.

“I hope there will be even more commitment to defense spending to invest more,” admitted Stoltenberg, who believes it is “perhaps” that 2% figure will be kept “as a base rather than a target.”

The NATO Secretary General said that while these are ongoing negotiations to be agreed upon by all countries, he wishes for “the level of ambition to be raised”, especially in the current context of the war in Ukraine.

Spain expects to reach 2% in 2029

In addition, he recalled that countries that are below this 2% are already increasing their defense budget “because everyone saw the need to invest more.” This is the case of Spain, which plans to reach 1.3% in 2023 and 2% in 2029.

This was guaranteed by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at the NATO summit last June in Madrid and reaffirmed this Saturday by Defense Minister Margarita Robles in front of Alliance parliamentarians.