LONDON: NATO is in talks to deploy more nuclear weapons, taking them out of storage and placing them on standby, in the face of a growing threat from Russia and China, the head of the alliance said on Monday.
Jens Stoltenberg told Britain’s Telegraph newspaper that there were live consultations between members to use transparency around its nuclear arsenal as a deterrent.
“I won’t go into operational details about how many nuclear warheads should be operational and which should be stored, but we need to consult on these issues. That’s exactly what we’re doing,” he told the paper.
“Transparency helps to communicate the direct message that we, of course, are a nuclear alliance.”
“NATO’s aim is, of course, a world without nuclear weapons, but as long as nuclear weapons exist, we will remain a nuclear alliance, because a world where Russia, China and North Korea have nuclear weapons, and NATO does not, is a more dangerous world.”
Stoltenberg said last week that nuclear weapons were NATO’s “ultimate security guarantee” and a means to preserve peace.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned that Moscow could use nuclear weapons to defend itself in extreme circumstances. It accuses the US and its European allies of pushing the world to the brink of nuclear confrontation by giving Ukraine billions of dollars worth of weapons, some of which are being used against Russian territory.
NATO, which has taken on a greater role in coordinating arms supplies to Kyiv, rarely talks about weapons publicly, although it is known that the US has deployed nuclear bombs to several locations in Europe.
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NATO in talks to put nuclear weapons on standby, Stoltenberg tells UK’s Telegraph
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NATO in talks to put nuclear weapons on standby, Stoltenberg tells UK’s Telegraph
- Jens Stoltenberg tells paper there are live consultations between members to use transparency around its nuclear arsenal as a deterrent
- ‘Transparency helps to communicate the direct message that we, of course, are a nuclear alliance’
Spain unveils public investment fund to tackle housing crisis
- The Spanish PM said the fund would raise 120 billion euros ($142 billion)
MADRID: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday presented a new public investment fund that he said would raise 120 billion euros ($142 billion) and help tackle the country’s persistent housing crisis.
Scarce and unaffordable housing is consistently a top concern for Spaniards and represents a stubborn challenge in one of the world’s most dynamic developed economies.
The new “Spain Grows” fund, first announced in January, aims to replace the tens of billions of EU post-Covid recovery aid that helped drive Spain’s strong growth in recent years.
Sanchez said the headline figure — representing seven percent of Spain’s annual economic output — would come through public and private sources, with an initial contribution of 10.5 billion euros of EU money.
The fund would “mobilize up to 23 billion euros in public and private funding to dynamise the housing supply” and help build 15,000 homes per year, Sanchez added, without specifying a timeframe for the planned investment.
Energy, digitalization, artificial intelligence and security industries would also benefit from the money, the Socialist leader said at a presentation in Madrid.
Tourism is a key component of Spain’s economy, with the country welcoming a record 97 million foreign visitors last year, when GDP growth reached 2.8 percent — almost double the eurozone average.
But locals complain that short-term tourist accommodation has driven up housing prices and dried up supply.
The average price of a square meter for rent has doubled in 10 years, according to online real estate portal Idealista.
According to the Bank of Spain, the net creation of new households and a lag in housing construction created a deficit of 700,000 homes between 2021 and 2025.
Scarce and unaffordable housing is consistently a top concern for Spaniards and represents a stubborn challenge in one of the world’s most dynamic developed economies.
The new “Spain Grows” fund, first announced in January, aims to replace the tens of billions of EU post-Covid recovery aid that helped drive Spain’s strong growth in recent years.
Sanchez said the headline figure — representing seven percent of Spain’s annual economic output — would come through public and private sources, with an initial contribution of 10.5 billion euros of EU money.
The fund would “mobilize up to 23 billion euros in public and private funding to dynamise the housing supply” and help build 15,000 homes per year, Sanchez added, without specifying a timeframe for the planned investment.
Energy, digitalization, artificial intelligence and security industries would also benefit from the money, the Socialist leader said at a presentation in Madrid.
Tourism is a key component of Spain’s economy, with the country welcoming a record 97 million foreign visitors last year, when GDP growth reached 2.8 percent — almost double the eurozone average.
But locals complain that short-term tourist accommodation has driven up housing prices and dried up supply.
The average price of a square meter for rent has doubled in 10 years, according to online real estate portal Idealista.
According to the Bank of Spain, the net creation of new households and a lag in housing construction created a deficit of 700,000 homes between 2021 and 2025.
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