Six Key Issues to Watch at NATO’s Ankara Summit
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We provide what many… NATO leaders are meeting in the Turkish capital, Ankara, for the alliance’s annual summit on July 7-8 in the shadow of the Iran war and American complaints that not all European allies are pulling their weight when it comes to defense spending.
The expectation is that US President Donald Trump will have harsh comments for several of his European counterparts as they meet for a dinner on the first day and then an expected three-hour session of the North Atlantic Council on the second and final day.
The following are six things to watch for during the two-day meeting.
Make no mistake: This summit will be dominated by defense spending.
At last year’s gathering in The Hague, the alliance ceremoniously agreed that all 32 allies would spend 5 percent of GDP on defense by 2035, with 3.5 percent of that being so-called “hard defense spending,” such as purchasing arms and other military equipment.
The remaining 1.5 percent could then be dedicated to investment that helps bolster military capabilities, such as infrastructure.
In Ankara, it will be all about demonstrating how to get there.
Or as the draft declaration of the summit put it: showing a “credible path” toward the target.
Some NATO officials who spoke to RFE/RL fear many countries will defer major defense investments over the next few years because of strained public finances, only to splurge on expensive military equipment in 2034-35 in what is known within the alliance as the "hockey stick approach, in which years of relatively flat spending are followed by a sharp final spike to meet the target.
It is on defense spending that Trump likely will come out swinging.
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