Spanish PM 'Forgets' To Mention Trump's Demand To Pay Up For NATO

Trump's position on NATO is one of Europe's many headaches. The US president expects the members of the alliance to contribute "their fair share", and European governments, which have relied on American power projection since the days of the Cold War, have now a tricky situation on their hands.

The Old World is still reeling from the financial crisis, and balancing budgets is not easy. This is particularly true for Southern European countries, of which Spain is the poster boy. Almost a decade after the meltdown, Madrid is still applying severe budget cutbacks to social services. This year, the national spending is expected to go down between 5 and 7 billion euros, even with the country's economy growing faster than any other in the EU. And that's not going to be very popular.

In the middle of all this, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy gets a phone call from Washington, in the first direct contact between the two leaders since Trump's election in November. The Spanish government issued a detailed briefing on the call and the topics Rajoy and Trump discussed, including "defense and security". The White House also published a (much shorter) summary of the call.

David Herszenhorn's article for Politico points out a fundamental difference between the American and the Spanish versions of the call. Washington's note included a reference to "the importance of all NATO allies sharing the burden of defense spending", not to be found in the Spanish detailed coverage.

The piece, while not digging deeper into the reasons of this "slip-up", brings up the personal and direct style the American government will use to handle its foreign affairs.

So if Trump is calling your head of state, you now know what to expect: a rise in the NATO membership fee.

Even if your government forgets to tell you.