As world leaders gather for a crunch NATO summit, new polling says that nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults see a benefit to NATO membership.
The Pew Research poll comes amid what has been called the most important NATO summit in many years.
This will be one of the shortest, if not the shortest, NATO summits in history and a row awaited Donald Trump when he arrived on Tuesday. This centres around his demand for the 5percent threshold which will mean alliance members paying much more than in the past on defence.
NATO secretary general Mark Rutte, the former Dutch PM, suggests that, of this, 3.5 percent should be spent on the military while the remaining 1.5percent could go on what is called “defence related” things.
The question for alliance members, such as the UK, is exactly where the extra funding to be spent on defence will come from.
US President Donald Trump is in the Netherlands for the two-day summit (ending 25 June).It will be President Trump’s first NATO summit since he was re-elected. In the recent past he has castigated alliance members for “not pulling their weight” when it comes to defence spending.
The U.S. has warned that it might not defend a fellow NATO member that is attacked if the country doesn’t meet the defence spending threshold.
The president has demanded that alliance members spend a huge 5% of GDP on defence and money was expected to dominate the gathering, until the summit programme was overtaken by the most recent events in the Middle East, including the U.S strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Speaking just ahead of the gathering in The Hague, U.S. Democrat Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said,
“Our European allies feel the same .Despite the rhetoric and the trade practices from this administration, our allies continue to recognize NATO’s value—perhaps now more than ever.”
Shaheen hopes the summit will
“emphasize the need to increase pressure on Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.”
“As NATO Secretary General Rutte has said, ‘We are all on the eastern flank now,'”
she continued.
“The reality of this shared vulnerability is clear. If Putin wins in Ukraine, he will not stop there. He’s already sent troops into Belarus and threatens the Balkans, the Baltic states and the Black Sea. And Russia’s ambitions also continue to play out over our own borders—through the Kremlin’s repeated attacks on our financial institutions and energy infrastructure.”
She added,
“We live in a more dangerous world, and this is a critical moment for our security. Allies are coming together to reinforce their cooperation and their commitment to NATO.”
At the summit, a NATO spokesman said leaders will address a variety of issues facing the alliance: deterrence and defence and ensuring that NATO has the resources, forces and capabilities “to face any threat.”
The continuing conflict in Ukraine, the Middle East crisis, migration and the Western Balkans are just a few of the topics on the agenda.
At the start of the week, Members of the European Parliament, meeting in Strasbourg, held an emergency debate on the NATO summit, a dialogue also attended by the EU’s “foreign minister” – High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas.
European Conservatives and Reformists Foreign Affairs Coordinator Adam Bielan emphasised the need for transatlantic partners to commit to boosting arms production, innovation and the “interoperability of weapons systems.”
Bielan supported U.S demands for a defence spending target of 5 per cent of GDP by 2035 in order to bring the EU on a more equal footing with the US, stating,
“Today, we face a dramatically changed security environment: from Russia’s never-ending bloodthirst in Ukraine to the escalating crisis in the Middle East and a renewed axis of autocracies.”
“For us on NATO’s Eastern flank, we know too well that NATO is and should remain the irreplaceable shield of our freedom and our security, as well as the strongest deterrent against those who seek to undermine peace in our region.”
Bielan continued:
“Ukraine continues to fight not only for its sovereignty but for the rules-based international order that has been protecting Europe for decades. Victory for Ukraine must remain NATO’s strategic objective.”
During the European Parliament debate on Monday another senior MEP, Anders Vistisen, (Patriots for Europe), delivered a pointed warning to fellow lawmakers, saying
“Europe is blind to the real threats undermining its security — mass migration, Islamisation, and the growing menace of the Iranian regime.”
“What is the value of talking about European security,”
Vistisen asked,
“if this Chamber refuses to name the real and rising threat to Europe?”
Vistisen, a Danish MEP who is a member of the Parliament’s all0-powerful bureau, criticised the EU’s focus on “secondary” issues while ignoring what he called
“the greatest danger we face” –
“uncontrolled mass migration and the resulting Islamisation of European societies — threats he linked directly to the destabilising influence of Iran.”
“Iran is not just a Middle Eastern problem, it is a European problem,”
Vistisen said, pointing to Tehran’s
“history of sponsoring terrorism on European soil, funding jihadist movements, and spreading violence across the continent.”
He warned that the Islamic Republic is only “weeks away” from acquiring a nuclear bomb, and with its long-range missile programme, major European capitals like Paris, Berlin, and Copenhagen are now within reach.
Vistisen also accused European leaders of “strategic blindness” and “moral hypocrisy” in their treatment of Israel, adding, “Let’s be honest: Israel is doing our dirty work. They are confronting a regime we know is a root cause of instability. And for this we repay them not with applause, but with lectures and accusations. It is shameful.”
He urged NATO and the European Union to adopt a principled and resolute approach, saying,
“No European is safe as long as the ayatollahs rule Tehran. There will be no peace, no stability and no safety until the Iranian regime is overthrown and its nuclear missile programme dismantled — completely and for good.”
During the summit, leaders hope to make decisions to continue adapting and strengthening the Alliance and the European People’s Party, easily the biggest political group in the EU Parliament, believes that increasing military spending is “not an option” but “a key issue for our security and independence.”
“We are at a crossroads, facing an imperialist Russia under Putin that marched into Ukraine and threatened European security. It is time for firmness, assertiveness, and leadership,”
says Nicolas Pascual de la Parte, EPP Group Spokesman on Security and Defence.
The Socialist group in the assembly has called on EU and NATO leaders to this week “move beyond promises,” with its leader, Spanish MEP Iratxe Garcia Perez declaring: “It’s time to deliver.”
To counter foreign threats and adapt to a changing security landscape, what’s “urgently” needed, she says, is “a stronger European pillar within NATO, more support for Ukraine, and an alliance grounded in shared democratic values.”
Further eve-of-summit reflection comes from Dr Denis MacShane, a former Europe Minister in the UK under Tony Blair, who told this site that the new leadership in Europe under German Chancellor Merz, British Premier Starmer and French President Macron is putting European NATO “back on the map and in play.”
Mac Shane adds,
“Now they need to convert that into a new `Euro defence industry partnership model and end the Balkanised cottage industries of so many penny packet national defence manufacturing.”
