Spain will deploy 300 military personnel and tanks in Latvia

 María Dolores Cospedal, Spain Ministry of Defense, has made public the intention of Spain to contribute 300 military personnel to a battalion that will deploy in Latvia after a meeting held yesterday with her counterparts from Albania, Canada, Slovenia, Italy, Latvia and Poland, on the deployment of advanced presence forces in eastern European countries.

 The Minister said that: 'Besides, these members, will be included in a mechanized tactical subgroup with mechanized sections (mainly 15 Pizarro Infantry combat vehicles, and a tanks’ section with 6 Leopardo 2E).' This is the first time that Spain deploys abroad a mission of these capabilities and which deployment is expected for the end of May, beginning of June.

 According to the Spanish Minister, Ms. Cospedal, this deployment is a way to show how committed Spain is with NATO in a global scale. She added that it is paramount for Spain the reinforcement of the actions for the threat coming from the South; implementing, therefore, the decisions taken at the Varsaw Summit. She also considered that NATO must have an action that encompasses 360º which means the challenges and threats from the North and the yihadist terrorism threat coming from the South.

 This message was passed on by Spain´s Minister of Defense to NATO General Secretary, Jens Stoltenberg, in her first formal meeting. She also told him that she was ‘greatly satisfied’ because of the solidarity shown by the northeastern Europe allies as response to the solidarity shown by Spain as ‘Mediterranean country’ towards the deterrent and security measures in eastern European countries.

 During the meeting, Ms. Cospedal also informed the Secretary Spain´s interest in keeping the Alliance presence in Spain hoping in the future to strengthen and increase it. Likewise, Ms. Cospedal had the opportunity to greet the new US Department of Defense, James N. Mattis, with whom she agreed to keep frequent meetings to maintain close links with both countries.

 She also alluded to the Spain´s agreement to reach 2% in Defense proposed by the US

saying that it is a commitment that NATO countries reached at the Wales Summit and that Spain is going to keep its agreement. In this sense, the Minister said that, besides numbers and percentages, it would be convenient not only to talk about the quantitative participation, but also the qualitative participation of Spain in NATO.