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I disagree. The situation demands more defenses. And increasing them is a good message.
Health cuts? That's not a goal. If anyone has an idea how to not decrease health funding while keeping defense spending -- don't be shy and tell.
But I remember there was some official who said that all these war things are totally irrelevant to Spain because Russia is too far away.
Simply take on more debt. Accept that over the past decades a deficit in defense has been accrued and now you turn that deficit into a monetary deficit. That is easier to handle than cutting health care.
Or properly tax the rich.
Also, spend that money locally or in the EU to stimulate the economy.
Actually, cutting back on the healthcare sector in return for increased defence spending is contrary to both defence and healthcare. Because what will you need in case of war? A working healthcare sector, because any war will inevitably increase the workload of the healthcare sector, since wars are fought with bullets, bombs and other things that are quite dangerous to one's health, not with cotton balls.
On the other hand, we shouldn't see everything through the lens of spending, because in both the healthcare and the defence sector, you can very easily buy a whole lot of nothing for a shitload of money, thanks to corruption, bureaucracy, and corporate greed. Unfortunately, politicians seem to be too stupid (and/or corrupt) to see anything from any other side than the spending aspect. Also there are large parts of the political spectrum who very much like to cut back on anything health and social and will use any excuse they can find to justify it to the public. The finally realised need for better defence is just a welcome excuse for those people to sell cutbacks they have been wanting all along.
You are afraid because politicians told you to be afraid. They don't want you to notice that you're getting robbed at home to benefit the weapons industry.
The reality is that Russia is weaker than everyone expected and they can't even take on Ukraine. The idea that they would simultaneously start a war with NATO is simply laughable. Even without the US, NATO already spends significantly more on defense than Russia's full-blown war economy. On top of that, NATO has nuclear weapons.
Cutting healthcare spending will cost lives. Not your hypothetical lives, but real people who die from curable illnesses while waiting for care. Those deaths are guaranteed.
I'm not from the EU. From Ukraine. So I know what Russia is capable of. And they are not as stupid as you might want them to be. They won't attack just right away. They will start with cutting cables, neo-nazi political parties funding and getting into the parliaments, drones/jets crossing the border, explosions on warehouses and factories (you're here), and then upscaling and widening the process. This also cost lives. Just not right now, later.
The problem is serious and must be addressed.
I'm not defending the cut of healthcare specifically. I'm not a fan of cutting any social programs. But defense is mandatory.
This is not a military budget problem, the thing is Spain, or France, Germany... have already powerful enough militaries to have ended the war twenty times over. But wars, as Ukraine has showed, aren't fought or won with money, but with lads being killed and killing the other side lads. The members of the European militaries live pretty comfortably, a pretty good wage just to play boyscouts, try telling them they have to go to die bleeding in the cold Russian steppe..
Money-related thing. I, as a Ukrainian wartime ex-soldier, can tell you that there is a HUGE difference between being a soldier with a rifle and a few grenades in the 50 cm "trench" and a soldier with a few machineguns in their unit, a few mortars and a dozen guys with drones being helped with artillery, aviation and whatnot. Money can improve the latter. And that is extremely important. Even boyscouts could be fierce warriors with such a background.
Thank you for some sanity amid these warmongering comments.