NATO summit to ditch Ukraine meeting – Politico
An upcoming NATO leaders summit in the Netherlands will have a shortened schedule, with the focus on Ukraine drastically reduced, Politico reported on Saturday, citing five people familiar with the matter.
The summit, set to be held in the World Forum in The Hague from June 24 to 25, will only feature two main events – a welcome dinner at the Dutch royal family’s castle and a single meeting of the North Atlantic Council instead of the usual two or three, according to Politico. There also will not be a meeting of NATO’s Ukraine Council.
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has been only invited to attend the welcome dinner, and it still remains unclear whether he will come, the outlet noted. The sources suggested the abbreviated schedule was a concession to the US and President Donald Trump in particular, who has repeatedly shown impatience with and shunned multilateral gatherings of a ceremonial nature.
NATO officials reportedly pared down the agenda after the G7 debacle, when Trump abruptly left the summit in Canada halfway through the two-day program. He also reportedly opposed a draft joint statement on the Ukraine conflict, and the summit ultimately ended without one.
The upcoming gathering is expected to yield no lengthy joint communique, with the bloc likely to produce only short statements on new commitments. Cuts to the agenda have also been attributed to a need to minimize the risk of derailing the main event of the summit, where members are expected to pledge to hike defense spending to 5% GDP.
Trump has long demanded that NATO countries spend more on defense, and the new commitment will be regarded as a big “win” by the US president, the sources suggested.
“He has to get credit for the 5% – that’s why we’re having the summit,” a European defense official told Politico. “Everything else is being streamlined to minimize risk.”
