NATO leaders were gathering in the Netherlands on Tuesday to start a two -day historic summit that could unite the largest security organization in the world over a new pledge to spend or expand the scope between the 32 allies.
The allies are likely to support the target of spending 5 % of GDP on their security, to be able to fulfill the coalition plans to defend against the external attack. However, Spain said it could not, and that the goal is “unreasonable.” President Donald Trump said the United States should not have to do so.
Slovakia said it reserves the right to determine how to reach the goal on the new 2035 deadline in NATO.
NATO Secretary -General Mark Retty, the right of the center, addresses the public at the NATO General Forum on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, the Netherlands.
AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert
“We do not live in a happy land after the Berlin Wall has fallen. We live in more dangerous times, and there are enemies, and opponents who may want to attack us.”
“We have to make sure that we are defending our beautiful way of life, our systems and values,” he said.
Two days before the meeting, Britain, France and Germany are committed to 5 %. The host country is the Netherlands on board. Nations close to the borders of Ukraine, Russia and their ally Belarus had previously pledged to do so.
“It is a historic moment,” said the US ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitker. “We will see the renaissance of our defense industries.”
Trump’s first appearance in NATO has been supposed to focus since his return to the White House on how the United States secured the pledge of historical military spending from others in the security alliance- effectively bending it to its will.
But in the spotlight, there is now Trump’s decision to issue three nuclear enrichment facilities in Iran, where the administration says that Tehran’s nuclear ambitions have eroded, as well as the sudden announcement that Israel and Iran have reached a “complete and comprehensive stop.”
Ukraine also suffered as a result of this conflict. He created a need for the weapons and ammunition that Kyiv wanted severely, and the world’s attention has turned away. The previous summits of the NATO almost focused on the war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year.
However, Rutte insists that it still represents a vital problem of NATO, and that allies can manage more than one conflict.
“If we are not able to deal with … the Middle East, which is very large and leads to all the main headlines, and Ukraine at the same time, we should not be in the field of politics and the military at all,” he said. “If you can only deal with one problem at one time, then it will be. Then let others take over.”
Ukrainian President Folodimir Zelinski arrived in The Hague for a series of meetings, despite his absence from the leadership meeting with the aim of concluding the agreement to increase military spending.
It is a major change since the summit in Washington last year, when the heavy statement of the military alliance included a pledge to provide long -term security assistance to Ukraine, and the commitment to support the country “on its irreversible path to NATO membership.
Zelinski’s first official participation was with Dutch Prime Minister Dick Shouf at his official residence on the road from the place of the summit.
But in a sign of the position of Ukraine at the top, none of the NATO leader mentioned. Ukraine’s attempt to join the coalition was put in a deep freezing by Trump.
“Let me be very clear, Ukraine is part of the family that we call the European Atlantic family,” said Choufov to Zelinski, who in turn said that he sees the future of his country in peace “and of course part of a large family of the European Union family.”
Schoffs used the meeting to announce a new package of Dutch support for KYIV, including 100 radar system to detect drones and a step to produce drones for Ukraine in the Netherlands, using KYIV specifications.
In an article on a joint opinion on the eve of the summit of this year, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Mirz said that they supported the American peace efforts that must preserve the sovereignty of Ukraine and European security.
They wrote in the Financial Times: “The current track has always continued, Russia in France and Germany will find an unpleasant design. What is on the test will determine European stability for the next contracts,” they wrote in the Financial Times.
The two leaders wrote: “We will ensure that Ukraine arises from this war, strong, strong and safe, and will not live again under the fear of Russian aggression.”
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