NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte wants next month’s annual Alliance summit to be short and held in a friendly atmosphere. Rutte hopes to avoid divisions among its members amid the complex relationship between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, reports The New York Times, citing European officials and diplomats, writes UNN.
Details
Two factors could spoil the atmosphere during the NATO summit. First, US President Donald Trump, who is expected to attend the summit, has disagreements with allies over the future of Ukraine. Ukraine, for its part, wants to join NATO, which Trump categorically opposes.
The NATO summit, scheduled for June 24-25 in the Netherlands, will take place at a time when the United States is retreating from its main responsibility for the defense of Europe, creating significant uncertainty about security on the continent.
Trump administration officials have warned their European counterparts that serious changes in the rotation of American troops are inevitable, even as they try to reassure allies that the US is committed to NATO.
At the same time, Trump is curtailing support for Ukraine, abandoning efforts to broker a ceasefire in the war, and seeking to normalize relations with Russia.
Given all this, Ukraine’s role at the summit is uncertain, not least because of Trump’s disdain for President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is also expected to attend the summit.
It is not even known whether Zelensky will be invited to the main dinner to mark the opening of the summit.
I fully expect Zelensky to be in The Hague. In what capacity, we are discussing
– said the new US Ambassador to NATO, Matthew G. Whitaker, at a conference this month held in Tallinn, Estonia.
Officials suggested that there would be no meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Council at this summit, where allies would be on an equal footing with Ukraine, as in previous years. Some noted that after the dinner on the first evening, NATO leaders would meet for only a few hours the next day to ratify new spending targets that could help European allies eventually replace the United States as the main guarantor of the continent’s conventional defense.
NATO is also planning a parallel defense industry forum, which Zelensky may attend.
Is Ukraine expected in NATO?
Under President Joe Biden, Zelensky played an important role in the last two NATO summits. Two years ago in Lithuania, the summit was unsuccessful when Zelensky and his allies sought firmer commitments on the timing of Ukraine’s accession to NATO.
Back in 2008, NATO agreed that both Ukraine and Georgia “will become members of NATO” but did not specify a date or path to this. Biden and some other leaders did not consider Ukraine ready for membership while it was still at war with Russia and resisted setting any date or process. Last year’s version of the communiqué, which NATO releases at the end of each summit, promised continued assistance to Kyiv, but on membership it simply said that Ukraine is on “an irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership.”
Officials said this year’s communiqué will be short and concise and is still being drafted.
Replacing US troops in Europe
The institute estimates that Europe will eventually need to spend about one trillion dollars to replace US forces and assets stationed in Europe. But experts such as Camille Grand, a former senior NATO official, consider this figure to be inflated and, in any case, roughly what Europeans will spend under new spending targets over the next decade or so.
NATO and the European Union, most of whose 27 members are also NATO members, have already done much since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to strengthen deterrence.
NATO has become stronger, fairer and more lethal than it was before the invasion, said the new Deputy Secretary General of NATO, Radmila Shekerinska. But much more needs to be done, she acknowledged, and NATO is working to reach consensus on spending targets before the summit.
This is our main goal. This is a huge deal, but it is not yet resolved
– she noted.Addendum
The United States of America calls on the North Atlantic Alliance to develop concrete measures to achieve the target of 5% of output for defense spending. Particular attention should be paid to the development of “hard defense capabilities”.