NATO leaders are meeting in Ankara on July 7 and 8 and according to two Reuters reports from July 3 they are worried about pleasing President Trump. The first report cites NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who says the summit meeting will show Europeans are honoring pledges to hike defense spending to deter Russia from any attack, with arms deals worth tens of billions of dollars to be signed. Leaders are also expected to vow to keep funding weapons for Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will attend a dinner hosted by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who will also hold bilateral talks with Trump.
“The summit next week will focus on turning extra spending into combat-ready capabilities, and significantly scaling up our defence industries,” Rutte said in Berlin July 1. “NATO is, and will always be, a transatlantic alliance but we need to rebalance it for the better,” he added. “Working closely with the United States, European allies and Canada are taking greater responsibility for conventional defence in Europe.”
According to the second Reuters report, NATO leaders are set to affirm an “ironclad commitment” to collective defense under the alliance’s Article 5 pact. This stands in contrast to the Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung, which this week said there is no internal NATO concurrence. However, Reuters gives quotes from the draft text it purports to have seen: “We ... have gathered in Ankara to reaffirm our ironclad commitment to our collective defense under Article 5 of the Washington Treaty and to the Transatlantic bond. An attack on one is an attack on all.”
