One of the leading publicists supporting Donald Trump, Marc Thiessen, writing in “The Washington Post”, proposed expelling Spain from the North Atlantic Alliance. Hours later, Trump attacked the Spanish government and described it as a “terrible ally.”
This is not the first time that an American leader has leveled harsh accusations at the government of Pedro Sánchez, mainly because of its refusal to increase defense spending to 5 percent. GDP — one of the requirements that Trump set for his NATO allies.
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Moreover, last October, the US president, in the presence of his Finnish counterpart, Alexander Stubb, already suggested that Spain should be expelled from the North Atlantic Alliance due to limited military spending. On Tuesday, he went a step further and described Spain's position of refusing to allow the use of bases on the country's territory as “not very friendly.”
— It has no strong leadership, is the only NATO ally that has not agreed to reach the 5% level, and in fact does not even pay 2%. We will stop all trade – he said.
Can a country be excluded from NATO?
In principle, one would assume not, however there is a loophole on this issue, which could lead to a unilateral US decision under threat of expulsion of other allies who oppose such action.
The founding charter of the North Atlantic Alliance does not provide for any legal procedure enabling the expulsion of a member state. The 1949 Washington Treaty does not contain articles relating to expulsion either of the founding states or those that later joined.
JThe only way to leave NATO is to leave voluntarily, by formally notifying the United States governmentwhich serves as the depositary of the treaty, in accordance with Article 13 of the document.
In the event of a voluntary withdrawal, at least 20 years must have passed since accession – which Spain complies with – and a period of 12 months from the submission of notification until the withdrawal takes effect.
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“After the expiration of twenty years of validity of the Treaty, any Party may cease to be a party thereto one year after giving notice of denunciation to the Government of the United States of America, which shall inform the Governments of the other Parties of any such denunciation,” states the said article.
No country has been expelled from NATO in its more than 75 years of history. The North Atlantic Alliance is based on the principle of consensus: any change to the treaty requires unanimity.
Nevertheless, despite the lack of a legal mechanism enabling the expulsion of a country from NATO, the US could use political tools to put pressure on its withdrawal, such as diplomatic isolation or economic sanctions.
Consequences for Spain of non-membership in NATO
If Spain at some point decided to leave NATO or, in a hypothetical situation, were expelled, the country would no longer benefit from the collective protection offered by the Alliance.
This is the famous Article 5 of NATO, which states that an attack on one member is considered an attack on all. To date, this article has only been triggered once, in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.
Of course, this would also mean that Spain would have to stop participating in NATO missions, at least as a member of the Alliance, and thus increase its defense spending to guarantee its own security.
The above text is a translation from Spanish edition of Business Insider
