The leader of Spain’s radical new Podemos party has said he would like a referendum on whether Spain should leave Nato, although he admitted the move would be “far from simple.”

“I’m a patriot and I don’t like the fact that there are foreign troops — US troops — on Spanish soil,” said Podemos Secretary General Pablo Iglesias on Sunday, referring to the two joint Spanish–US military bases in Andalusia.

“I think Nato puts us at risk,” he said in an interview with Spain’s Cadena SER radio station.

The leader of a party which has shaken up Spain’s political system with its meteoric rise in the polls since forming early in 2014 said he would “use all possible means” to see Spain out of the powerful military alliance.

Image: US and Spanish soldiers in joint exercise, Oct. 29, 2012 (photo: Lt. Col. Wayne Marotto/US Army)