Madrid. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, expressed his surprise to his German counterpart at the comments made on Tuesday by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who remained silent in the face of Donald Trump’s threats towards Spain, but stated that it is the only ally that opposes increasing military spending. «When we share a currency, a common market, and a trade policy, we expect the same solidarity that Spain has shown, for example, towards Denmark, or that which has been provided to the countries on the eastern flank, like Latvia, where we have a significant troop presence,» emphasised the minister in an interview on TVE. Albares noted that since they took office, he has had the opportunity to meet three German chancellors, including Merz, and he cannot imagine the previous ones, Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz, making statements like these. The minister mentioned that there is another pro-European approach. In relation to the meeting between Merz and Trump at the White House, the US president warned Spain about a possible trade embargo due to its refusal to allow the use of bases for military operations in Iran. For his part, the chancellor only commented that he was trying to persuade our country to increase its defence spending to 3% or 3.5% of its GDP, as it is the only NATO ally that has not made that commitment.
