The teacher of the National Intelligence Academy, Professor Nurshin Ateshoglu Guni, wrote for the analytical department “Anaaliz” about the decisions adopted at the Summit of NATO leaders held in the Hague on June 24-25, as well as the role of Turkey in the Alliance
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The Summit of NATO leaders ended, which took place on June 24-25 in the Hague (Netherlands) with the participation of 32 member states of the Alliance. The NATO secretary Mark Rutte in an interview with Chatham House said that the final declaration will be quite brief, and the issue of Ukraine would not receive detailed lighting. European allies. They develop plans aimed at guaranteeing the preservation of transatlantic unity during the second presidential term of Donald Trump. They also strive to convince him of the need to maintain commitment to European security. Nevertheless, in the ranks of European members of the Alliance, fears remain that against the background of Trump’s rhetoric “America”, first of all, ”there is a risk that the United States can distance from allies if they cannot be convinced of the importance of continuing support.
During his election campaign, Donald Trump said that if some alliance countries do not increase their defense contributions during his second presidential term, he will abandon them to their fate in case of conflict with Russia. This is not the first time when Trump raises the issue of defense expenses of NATO allies. In previous summites, this topic was also discussed, and many countries have already increased their contributions to 2 % of the gross domestic product (GDP) even before the Hague summit. As part of the Hague declaration, it was decided that the member countries of the Alliance would allocate 5 % of their GDP for NATO defense needs. Of this amount, 3.5 % will be aimed at the main expenses associated with the “tough” defense, and the remaining 1.5 % to other articles, such as the development of infrastructure and research developments. By the point, NATO satisfied Trump’s requirements for the fair distribution of financial burden. At the same time, a certain flexibility is provided for member countries, since everyone understands the scale of such an increase in expenses. For example, at the summit it was decided that the set targets should be achieved by 2035. At the same time, sanctions against states that may postpone these obligations are not provided. Thus, NATO managed to demonstrate unity and solidarity even in the era of trumpism.