Spain (State of)

In December 2001, the last recruits abandoned military barracks across Spain after having completed the final nine months of obligatory military service. In many European states, the end of forced recruitment had been motivated almost exclusively by the military forces' evolution towards global intervention operations, whilst in Spain the system of forced recruitment had collapsed despite years of government efforts.

According to a new report published by Centre d’Estudis per la Pau to analyse the way banks, pension funds and insurers are funding the arms industry, the total financing to the arms industry by financial institutions operating in Spain reached nearly €11,969 million between the years 2014 and 2019. The largest armed banks operating in Spain are again BBVA, Santander, ING, Deutsche Bank, Banco Sabadell, Bankia and Caixabank.

The Spanish government has decided to go ahead with the delivery of 400 laser guided missiles to Saudi Arabia, worth more than $10m, a few weeks after saying they would cancel the order.

It seems that few could imagine that the problems made by the Spanish state for the Catalan referendum on 1st October would lead to exactly that which reinforces the legitimacy of the fight of many social claims: peaceful popular resistance.

Centre Delas have published a new resource, illustrating the involvement of the financial industry with the arms trade. Banca Armada allows users to explore how – between 2011 and 2017 – different banks, insurance companies, asset management companies, sovereign wealth funds, and some pension funds and public institutions financed the activities of the arms industry.

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