Hundreds of culture and activism personalities have met this morning in front of the gates of the Congress of Deputies to carry out a public reading of the manifesto that criticizes Pedro Sánchez’s defense to increase military spending in Europe to deal with the current geopolitical context.
Sánchez thus subscribes the European Union Plan for “Rearmar Europa”, which implies mobilizing European military spending by up to 800,000 million euros. The plan was announced by the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on March 4.
The manifesto read by actors Carolina Yuste and Juan Diego Botto argues that “the rearme of Europe will not bring peace, but will bring us even more to war” and criticizes that the increase in spending in defense and security that occurs in Spain Míme Social Rights. “We cannot and do not want to accept that the money of our public hospitals, our schools and our public universities, our system of agency, our social protection and coverage policies for the moments of difficulty, to fight against climate change, sexist violence, racism or protection against emergencies, cooperation, will be destined to buy tanks, rifles, fighters and missiles for war.”
“What part of these billions is destined to improve education, health, the terrible situation of housing, precariousness in culture, environmental harmony or international solidarity?”, The text has raised, also signed by personalities such as Rozalen, Javier Bardem or Aitana Sánchez-Gijón.
However, Pedro Sánchez has assured that Spain’s military reinforcement will not affect social policy, but will “protect it.” “The commitment of the Government of Spain is indisputable, firm and decisive: we are not going to cut even a penny of euro in social policy to deal with this commitment we have with Europe, and also with our country, in the field of security and defense.”
Pedro Sánchez has reiterated his commitment that Spain increases its defense expenditure to 2% of GDP before 2029, in response to the demands of its allies in the European Union and NATO. However, the manifesto defends that there are alternative paths: “Wouldn’t it be necessary to invest in greater political and diplomatic efforts than in the face of threats of aggression they look for dialogue paths not yet explored?”
