“More than fair” that Spain will host next NATO summit

Defence Minister Margarita Robles says it is “more than fair” that Spain hosts the next NATO summit as Spain’s defence forces have made a great, but sometimes overlooked, contribution to NATO.

Spain will also mark the 40^th anniversary of joining the military alliance next year as well as 25 years since it last hosted the summit.

“They have been 40 very intense years, with a very important human sacrifice on the part of our Armed Forces. Sometimes from the outside, we do not value the peace we have because behind there are men and women working in Spain and in very distant places to maintain it,” Robles said on July 2.

“It is more than fair and deserved that Spain holds the NATO Summit next year. Spain is made great by our committed and courageous Armed Forces,” she added while thanking “the 125,000 Spanish soldiers who have shown their commitment to peace and NATO values ​​for their participation in NATO missions.”

On June 15, while attending a NATO meeting in Brussels, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced Spain will hold the annual NATO summit in 2022.

 “At the 1997 Summit in Spain, the allies were capable of demonstrating cohesion but, above all, a vision of the future to face the new strategic scenario that was opening up after the fall of the Berlin Wall. I would like to take this spirit of Madrid to the next Summit so that we are able to come up with a new Strategic Concept to guide us in the years to come,” Sanchez said.

Spain’s armed forces, with 144,457 personnel – 124,457 military and 20,000 civilians – is the seventh largest in the alliance.

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