Spain on Wednesday asked NATO to deliver coronavirus-related medical supplies. Recognizing the scale of suffering in that nation, the alliance should provide the support, but not without an associated admonition.
Because Spain has not been a good NATO ally recently.
Spain’s present attitude toward the NATO alliance is very much one of a taker rather than a giver. Out of the alliance’s 29 member states, Spain is second to last, leading only Luxembourg in defense spending as a percentage of GDP. Under Pedro Sanchez’s socialist premiership, Madrid actually reduced its defense spending between 2018 and 2019, and Sanchez has refused to provide a credible timetable for boosting investments. As with Belgium’s approach to defense spending, this is outrageous.
Spain’s continuing support for Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro contrasts sharply with the position of other allies. And in addition to its refusal to deploy against Russian threats in the Mediterranean, it harasses NATO allies’ vessels as they operate in British waters.
Even worse, Spain allows Russian warships to resupply at its Cueta port on the northern tip of Morocco. That decision, taken against significant NATO pressure, shows that Spain is willing to put a little Russian cash before the most basic NATO principles. And although it’s very unlikely, were Russia to launch a surprise war against NATO, Spain’s conduct means that Vladimir Putin’s forces would be more able to kill NATO service personnel.
Of course, this is a time of great crisis, and this is no time to settle scores by withholding help. Nearly 3,500 Spanish residents have now died from the virus, and tens of thousands more are believed infected. Spain’s coronavirus crisis is second only to Italy and greater than China’s (if the official tally there is to be believed). This suffering is not something we should ignore. In turn, the United States and other allies should provide whatever assistance is available.
But NATO is built on the principle of national interests protected by fair burden-sharing against a common threat. When nations fail to pull their own weight, or worse, behave in the malicious manner of Sanchez, the alliance is weakened in capability and credibility.
Spain’s government suddenly needs the friends it has treated poorly. Those friends should help, but not without a frank warning that Spanish leaders must change their ways.
