Everything was made not to bother Donald Trump, who participates in the NATO summit in The Hague this Wednesday, June 25. But will the game play? Suspended from the reactions of the unpredictable US president, the countries of the Atlantic Alliance must confirm an unprecedented increase in their military expenditure on this occasion.
Rarely the annual meetings of the 32 NATO members will have been held at the crossroads of so many conflicts: the war in Ukraine, Gaza and the high fragile fire between Iran and Israel.
Three days after the American bombardment of Iranian nuclear sites, Donald Trump landed Tuesday night in The Hague, the white cover of the United States screwed the skull. The US president joined a gala dinner at the invitation of the King of the Netherlands, then participate in Wednesday morning in a work session between heads of state and government, condensed in less than three hours.
A drastic increase in military spending
To avoid disappointments, this brief summit is reduced to a simple message, expected in a final statement of only a few paragraphs. Given by Donald Trump, NATO members will compromise to drastically increase their expenses in terms of defense, reach at least 5% of their GDP in 2035 – 3.5% of military expenditure Stricto Sensu and an additional 1.5% for broad security.
According to him, NATO general secretary, Mark Rutte, continues to sound the alarm of the threat of Russia, according to him, capable of “succeeding in an attack” against an alliance country in the next five years. The Kremlin denounces the “frantic militarization” of NATO.
To attract the good thanks of the US president, Mark Rutte sent it just before the summit a Dirambico message, which Donald Trump did not stop transmitting on his social networks. American bombings in Iran? A “decisive action”, “really extraordinary” and that “nobody had dared to do,” he launched the NATO chief.
“Will Trump want a clash?”
After the Haye Summit, “Europe will pay a great price” to finance its defense “as it did” and “will be his victory,” Mark Rutte wrote again to Trump, who often criticizes the European “bad payers”.
“Defense Europe has finally woken up,” said the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
Enough to avoid a warning of US President? “Will Trump want a clash? It’s a total unknown,” says Camille Grand, former NATO official and defense questions.
On board Air Force One, in the direction of The Hague, Donald Trump again baffled his allies, remaining elusive about the attitude of the United States in case of an attack against one of the members of the Alliance. Article 5 of the NATO Treaty can be “defined in several ways,” he told journalists, on the cornerstone of the alliance.
This article raises the principle of mutual defense: if a member country is attacked, everyone else is used. On Tuesday night, Mark Rutte wanted to be reassuring: “I have no doubt about the commitment” of Americans within NATO.
A “probable” meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky
In the heart of this great International Rout, Donald Trump’s “probable” meeting with the Ukrainian president will focus, four months after the humiliation suffered by Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval office.
What message do you want to send it? “I’ll tell him ‘How are you going?’
In Canada, the recent Summit of the G7: the club of the main industrialized democracies, had been marked by the early game of the White House tenant and the lack of a joint statement that denounced the “Russian assault” in Ukraine, unlike previous years when Joe Biden was the head of the United States.
Upon leaving the White House on Tuesday, Donald Trump was also very angry after the rupture of Alto El Fuego between Iran and Israel. However, the general secretary of the Alliance, Mark Rutte, hopes that the situation in the Middle East does not completely alter the choreography of the summit that has already described as “historical”, thanks to the promised investments in defense matters. Despite the criticism of Spain, which judges this increase in “unreasonable” military spending.
Source: BFM TV
