The Defense budget rises 6.5 percent, 8.4 if European funds are included and NATO will be complied with

The Minister of Finance assures that the increase in investments of this Ministry will be 25 percent and almost 23,000 jobs will be created

MADRID, 4 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, explained today that the budget of the Ministry of Defense for 2023 will rise by 6.5 percent compared to the current year, but it will be 8.4 percent if the funds are included. Europeans. In addition, he has made it clear that Spain will comply with Pedro Sánchez's commitments to NATO to increase defense spending to 2 percent of GDP for the 2027-2029 period and stresses that this ministry's investment will grow next year by 25 percent, with which almost 23,000 jobs can be created.

This is how the minister pronounced herself during her speech at the press conference after the Council of Ministers, in which the General State Budget Bill for 2023 was approved, which will be sent to Parliament for processing.

Montero has taken the initiative to explain the budget of the Ministry directed by Margarita Robles, anticipating, he said, the questions. Thus, he has stated that "without including special modernization programs", the Ministry of Defense increases its resources by 6.5 percent, a figure that increases to 8.4 if we include European funds.

The aforementioned rise of 6.5 percent is, according to María Jesús Montero, "very much in line with the rest of the Ministries and well below other ministries of a social nature", such as that of Social Rights, whose budget grows in the environment of the 18 percent, or that of Equality, whose increase is around 14 percent.

In other words, with this increase in spending by the Ministry, what is being undertaken is the salary increase for members of the troops and the Armed Forces. The rest of the budget, he has insisted, does not compete with non-financial spending.

However, he added that Defense policy rises more if the special modernization programs of the Armed Forces are considered and that they do not count in the limit of non-financial spending.

These special programs that modernize the Armed Forces and that are computed in different annuities, amount to 4,900 million by 2023. Most of this figure corresponds to contracts for the national industry with which it is expected to create 22,667 jobs directly or indirectly.

In addition, the minister has estimated a 25 percent increase in the Ministry's investment and has clarified that the fact that the modernization item is not within the limit of non-financial spending does not mean that it is not in the Defense budget.

Montero has specified that he is referring to the workload of Navantia, Airbus, companies that carry out work within Spain such as Indra and others that have clear agreements with the Ministry of Defense and that benefit from the creation of hybrid technologies, which They have added value for other types of knowledge and subjects that are developed in other areas of the productive sector.

That said, the minister has opted to overcome that "excessively militaristic" "view" of defense spending.

Regarding Pedro Sánchez's commitment to NATO to increase defense spending to 2 percent of GDP, he has made it clear that "the president's commitments are fulfilled." "It seems very important to take it into account," he stressed before insisting that the president is ultimately responsible for these public accounts and when he commits his word, "the budgets cover that compliance with the word of the".

Thus, it has insisted that Spain promised that defense spending would be in NATO terms over the next few years and therefore reaching that horizon in the years 2027-2029.

"If the rate of growth of the budgets continues along this path in the coming years, and I'm sure it will, because hopefully this government can continue to develop these budgets, we will have the possibility of fulfilling something as important as our contribution to international security" .