Spain's Albares backs European army, says remain in NATO

José Manuel Albares, Spain’s foreign minister, said on May 17 that he supports the creation of a European army while keeping Spain inside NATO and maintaining dialogue with the United States. The remarks, circulated by Spanish broadcaster Cadena SER, revived a debate that Albares has been pushing in public for months: that Europe should build stronger military capacity of its own without breaking with the Atlantic alliance. Spain’s foreign ministry and earlier public statements by Albares show the position is not new, though the wording drew fresh attention over the weekend. NATO’s military structure, for its part, remains under Allied command led by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, a U.S. general. ### What exactly did Albares say this weekend? Cadena SER circulated Albares’s comments on May 17, saying he backed a European army while insisting Spain should remain in NATO and continue contacts with Washington. The post prompted debate in Spanish media because it combined two positions often presented as competing: more autonomous European defence and continued Atlantic alignment. (efe.com) José Manuel Albares has used similar language before. In a Jan. 27 interview cited by EFE, he said “it is necessary” that Europeans take charge of their own security and said a European army was possible because Europe had the means and capabilities to do it. He also framed that goal as part of turning Europe’s economic power into political power. ### Is this a break with Spain’s support for NATO? (efe.com) Spain’s foreign ministry has described Albares’s line as strengthening “the European pillar in NATO,” not replacing the alliance. In a Feb. 19 ministry statement after a meeting in Madrid with European Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius, Albares said the European Union needed a “true common defence,” better defence-industry integration and the “progressive integration” of EU armed forces, while also calling for closer EU-NATO collaboration. (efe.com) NATO’s command chain remains separate from any EU defence project. SHAPE, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in Mons, Belgium, says the Supreme Allied Commander Europe directs NATO military operations and that the post is held by a U.S. general who is also commander of U.S. European Command. That structure is the backdrop to Albares’s argument that Europe should be able to defend itself with greater capacity in its “own hands,” while still remaining in the alliance. (exteriores.gob.es) ### Why are these comments surfacing now? January and February brought a series of public interventions from Albares on European sovereignty and defence. On Jan. 29, Spain’s foreign ministry said he told EU counterparts in Brussels that Europe needed to act “united, with a strong and sovereign voice” at a “crucial moment.” On Jan. 27, EFE reported that he was responding directly to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte’s criticism of the idea of a European army. (shape.nato.int) Mark Rutte had argued that a separate EU force risked duplication with NATO. Albares answered that Europe should be capable of defending itself and proposed deeper industrial integration and what he called a coalition of volunteers for European security. ### What is the EU already doing on defence? The European Council said on March 6, 2025 that Europe needed to “substantially increase” spending on security and defence and backed work on new EU-level funding tools. (exteriores.gob.es) The conclusions referred to a proposed loan instrument of up to 150 billion euros and broader measures to accelerate defence spending and industrial capacity. (efe.com) The Council later said that, on May 27, 2025, it adopted the SAFE instrument, which provides loans of up to 150 billion euros backed by the EU budget for joint defence procurement. The European Commission’s defence-readiness material says the wider Readiness 2030 plan is designed to unlock up to 800 billion euros through fiscal flexibility, loans and other financing channels. (consilium.europa.eu) ### Does Albares’s position amount to an actual plan for a European army? No formal EU decision creating a single European army appears in the official materials reviewed here. The documents instead describe a build-out of common defence capabilities, joint procurement, industrial integration, more interoperability and progressively closer coordination among member states. (consilium.europa.eu) Spain’s next reference points are likely to come through EU defence meetings and official ministry statements rather than a standalone Spanish military proposal. The foreign ministry has continued to publish Albares’s defence-related interventions, and the EU’s existing framework already includes the SAFE instrument and the Commission’s Readiness 2030 agenda. (exteriores.gob.es)