Sánchez criticises EU for talking about rearmament

“It’s a term I don’t like at all,” he said, while defending the union’s role as a soft power at the leaders’ summit in Brussels

Olatz Hernández

Friday, 21 March 2025, 10:11

Words and nuances are important. Even more so at European summits, where the introduction or not of a certain term can block the adoption of conclusions at the EU-27 level. On his arrival at the leaders’ summit in Brussels on Thursday, the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, rejected the term “rearmament”, which is included in the multi-billion European defence plan (Rearm Europe) presented by the European Commission. Nevertheless, he stressed that Spain is “committed to increasing defence spending”.

Sánchez was clear: “I don’t like the term ‘rearmament’ at all. I think we have to speak in a different way when addressing the public,” he stressed. Rearm Europe is the name chosen by the EU executive for a multi-billion-euro initiative to increase Europe’s military capabilities.

Loan mechanism

To this end, Brussels has proposed a loan mechanism of 150 billion euros, which member states will only be able to spend on EU-based companies and buy products made up of 65 per cent European components. It also wants to relax fiscal rules for at least four years so that European countries can invest up to 1.5 per cent of their gross domestic product in defence.

But the PM did not seem to have a problem with the Brussels plan but he stressed that Europe “has a duty” to assert itself as a “political project of soft power”.

Sánchez also mentioned the security challenges facing the bloc in its Mediterranean area. “These are different challenges to those on the eastern flank, but we must increase border control and our capabilities to combat terrorism, cyberattacks and hybrid attacks,” he concluded.

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