Belgium said it was seeking “maximum flexibility” from NATO on increased defense spending targets to be agreed at this week's summit after Spain, which is also lagging behind, insisted it had won an exemption.

Madrid said it would not have to reach 5% of GDP as demanded by US President Donald Trump, setting the stage for a potential confrontation at the two-day meeting that begins on June 24 in The Hague.

Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevo said that while Brussels must show “willingness to return to the fold” after years of underfunding, the target was beyond its “budgetary possibilities,” AFP reported.

“We may not have done so with loud statements like Spain, but I can assure you that for weeks our diplomats have been working hard to obtain the flexibility mechanisms that could ease the burden on Belgium's efforts. We want maximum flexibility,” he told RTBF radio.

Under an agreement approved by NATO countries on June 23, allies pledge to reach 3.5% for core military needs over the next decade and to spend 1.5% on a broader category of “defense-related expenditures,” such as infrastructure and cybersecurity.

The commitment is seen as key both to satisfying Trump, who has threatened not to defend allies that spend too little, and to helping NATO build the forces needed to deter Russia.

Several NATO diplomats said that the agreement to be announced at the summit had been approved by all 32 countries and that there was no exception for Madrid.

However, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez claims to have reached an agreement whereby his country will continue to meet its commitments “without having to increase defense spending to 5% of gross domestic product.”

Later, the center-left leader posted a letter from NATO chief Mark Rutte online confirming that the agreement “will give Spain flexibility to determine its sovereign path” to meet the alliance's military capability requirements.

But a NATO diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there were “no exceptions.”

“Allies always have the sovereign right to determine how they will fulfill their commitments,” the diplomat stressed.

Belgium, like Spain, is one of the NATO countries with the lowest defense spending in relative terms.

It currently spends 1.3% of GDP on defense, which is significantly below the current target of 2% that the government has committed to achieving. | BGNES