Visegrad Insight – What Will Come from This Year’s NATO Summit?

Original source Visegrad Insight:

The Madrid NATO summit will set NATO’s strategic direction for the next decade and beyond, while responding specifically to the new security crisis facing the region with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Our director Matej Kandrík is one of the experts who shared his opinion on what will be the outcome of the next NATO Summit happening in a few days.

Matej Kandrík:

The NATO Summit in Madrid will be historical – so we should expect historical decisions. 

The most pressing issues are weapons supplies and other military help to Ukraine. Western military and humanitarian support is a strategic lifeline we must not allow to dry out. 

Another pressing issue is how to strengthen and cement Allied military presence in the Eastern Flank in a strategic shift from enhanced Forward Presence as a tripwire force to forward deterrence posture. This would also mean that growing defence expenditure could hold a promise of some burden-sharing rebalancing. This should ease a long-term rift in transatlantic relations.

For the first time, the summit would be attended by NATO partners from the Pacific – Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea. This is a clear message that the idea of “Global NATO” will be built on partnerships and cooperation. Additionally, there is a question of Swedish and Finnish membership on the table. There will be great pressure on Turkey to unblock “Nordic enlargement,” while Ankara’s growing assertiveness will not be satisfied easily. 

I expect the new NATO strategic concept will be more like a set of guiding principles rather than a detailed blueprint. COVID-19 pandemic, the invasion, and the ongoing war in Ukraine are all proof of how quickly, unexpectedly, and dramatically the world can change in a short time. Guiding principles are way more helpful for uncertain times than elaborate planning.