The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, warns in an article in the US magazine 'Foreign Affairs' that governments' commitment to peace "has been weakened" in recent decades, a setback which, in his view, "leads to a new world war" in an international scenario marked by "militarization and confrontation." Under the title 'The World's Last Chance for Peace' ('The last chance for peace'), the head of the Executive rejects accepting war as "something inevitable."
In the piece, Sánchez denounces that "wars of aggression, such as those in Ukraine, Lebanon or Iran, are increasing and sowing horror, ruin and fear of a global confrontation. Governments increasingly think of war as something that has to be prepared for and budgeted." He considers it "dangerous" to normalize armed conflicts and recalls that the "devastation" of the two world wars led to "countries coming together in a common effort: that war cease to be a legitimate instrument of State policy and become an illegal act."
However, he argues that "in the last few decades" that consensus has been eroded, especially since the 2003 invasion of Iraq led by the United States. "Since then, the pursuit of peace has been retreating on the international agenda," he laments, while pointing to "the growing geopolitical competition and the neglect or indifference toward the multilateral efforts that for decades put a brake on war" as factors that push toward a possible "new world war." For this reason, he calls for governments like Spain's to act "to limit the ability of others to wage war" and to strengthen international institutions "that must be guarantors of peace."
In this sense, he defends "expansive multilateralism," which he prefers to call "maxilateralism," understood as "cooperation that encompasses the largest possible number of countries, rather than limiting itself to small 'ad hoc' coalitions."
"Silence" in the face of war is "cowardice"
Sánchez shows his concern about the normalization of war as “something normal,” especially after aggressions that “violate the Charter of the United Nations,” such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or the actions of the United States and Israel “attacking” Iran, while conflicts “year after year” continue in places like “Lebanon, Sudan or Yemen.” In his view, there are no signs that this dynamic “is going to be slowed down,” in view of military budgets that “have skyrocketed to levels not seen for generations, to the detriment of social spending and development,” even in countries “with a long tradition of military containment, such as Germany, Denmark, Japan and Norway,” where he also mentions the recovery of compulsory military service.
The president warns of the “return of the threat of nuclear war” and of the impact of artificial intelligence, which “is equipping war with increasingly dangerous weapons.” “Taken together, these dynamics multiply the chances that any crisis will quickly lead to the annihilation of the planet,” he warns, before warning that the States “are manufacturing the instruments of catastrophe at the dizzying speed of innovation, while the instruments of control advance at the same pace, much more slowly, of diplomacy.”
In this context, he argues that political changes “are taking the world away from peace: They are pushing it toward militarization and confrontation.” In the face of this reality, Sánchez insists that keeping silent is “an act of cowardice and complicity” and calls for the position of the Government and of Spanish society to reject the war. As an example, he emphasizes that his Executive “has defended the international rules that make the difference between an order based on rules and another governed by force” and has raised its voice against “armed attacks that violate the Charter of the United Nations.”
Rejection of 5% of GDP in military spending
The head of the Executive reiterates that Spain will not assume the goal of devoting 5% of GDP to defense proposed within the framework of NATO, understanding that "security grows when societies are resilient, inequalities are reduced, and citizens can trust public institutions". He recalls, however, that the Government has reinforced its commitment to European defense and presents itself as "one of the main driving forces behind the strategic autonomy of the European Union", after having tripled the military budget since 2018, the year of its arrival at the Moncloa.
As he explains, keeping in Spain "a proportional defense spending" has made it possible to "invest an additional 145,000 million euros in social protection, housing, healthcare and education, and more than 30,000 million in the ecological transition". In his view, "these are policies that bring society together and therefore make it safer".
Deep reforms of the multilateral system
Sánchez also calls for "strengthening multilateral institutions" through "far-reaching reforms" that allow them to act effectively in the prevention of conflicts and in defending international security. Among his proposals is "updating the structure of the United Nations Security Council", where currently "permanent seats and the right of veto for the five victorious powers of the Second World War, which together account for barely a quarter of the world’s population", form an architecture "that does not reflect the world of today".
He also proposes expanding "the number of elected members of the Council", so that the new seats are assigned "mainly to countries from underrepresented regions, in particular Africa and Latin America", and "strictly restricting the veto power of permanent members, especially when the Security Council deliberates on cases of mass atrocities, genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes".
At the same time, he emphasizes the urgency of a "structural transformation of international financial institutions", especially the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. "The distribution of voting power in both continues to reflect the economic balances of the 20th century and, by convention, a European is always at the head of the IMF and an American, of the World Bank. This has to end," he concludes.