The current meeting of the leaders of 28 North Atlantic Treaty Organization member states in Brussels differs from many previous summits. Firstly, it is officially a three-hour routine meeting of the allies’ heads of state and government. This is why experts call it a NATO mini-summit.
Secondly, North Atlantic alliance leaders are unveiling a new ultramodern NATO Headquarters building which was built from 2010 to 2017 on the territory of a former airfield opposite the old premises. At this ceremony, a representative of the Belgian construction company that carried out construction will hand in a symbolic key to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Incidentally, almost 4,000 employees will finally move to the new premises, situated just across the road, later this year, and only then will journalists be invited there. So, for the time being, they can only watch this on TV screens in the press center.
Thirdly, the new US President Donald Trump, who said during his election campaign that NATO was outdated, will take part for the first time in a summit like this. Since then, he has somewhat changed his rhetoric about NATO, saying that the allies should meet their commitments to the Alliance and, particularly, spend 2 percent of their GDP on defense. This calmed the European NATO allies to some extent.
Incidentally, the US president will unveil at the new NATO Headquarters a section of the World Trade center ruined during the terror attack on September 11, 2011, called 9/11 and Article 5 Memorial, which will show that the Alliance has brought into action the article on mutual defense for the first time in its history.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will also unveil a section of the Berlin Wall which illustrates the way NATO maintained peace during the Cold War.
Fourthly, this meeting is historic in that NATO heads of state and government will be accompanied at the negotiating table for the first time by a delegation of Montenegro which will be finally admitted to the Alliance in a few weeks’ time.
Fifthly, by contrast with the previous summits, Brussels will not host the traditional session of the Ukraine-NATO Commission. Nor will the Ukrainian question be formally discussed during this routine meting, NATO representatives said at a briefing. But it is not ruled out that somebody may broach this issue at lunch.
This mini-summit will discuss two questions only: distribution of the defense spending burden and fighting terrorism. A NATO official pointed out that the Wales summit had resolved that NATO members would spend 2 percent of their GDP on defense. So it is obvious that the US president will insist that the allies comply with this decision.
Besides, the allies will discuss how to expand NATO activities in Iraq, Jordan, and Africa in order to strengthen the capability of local governments to combat terrorism.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at the press briefing that the meeting of the North Atlantic Alliance heads of state and government would show that the allies are united in their struggle against terrorism and determined to protect open society. “The meeting will show NATO’s ability to respond to changes and global challenges,” he emphasized.
In his words, this meeting will be discussing two topics, namely, the Alliance’s greater role in fighting terrorism and fairer financial burden-sharing across NATO, including the allocation of 2 percent of GDP for defense.
Stoltenberg announced that, from this year onwards, the allies will be drawing up defense plans that comprise three items: money, capability, and contribution to NATO operations. Moreover, they will report twice a year on the fulfillment of these plans.
Answering the journalists’ questions, including one on why the partners that supposedly intend to join the Alliance are absent from the summit, Stoltenberg said: “This meeting shows that NATO leaves its door open, and the presence of Montenegro confirms this.”
The NATO secretary general also expressed concern over non-implementation of the Minsk Agreements which set out ceasefire as the main precondition, while Russia hinders this. But he did not answer the question if implementation of the Minsk Agreements and the role of Russia, which is not implementing its part, will be discussed at this meeting.
It is not ruled out that Ukraine’s friends in the Alliance will explain to the US president at a “working lunch” the importance of supporting our country in its resistance to Russian aggression and that the return of the occupied Donbas and the illegally annexed Crimea will mean implementation of Trump’s slogan “to make America great again.”
