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The NATO meeting is being held on June 24-25 in Hague, Netherlands. This time the meeting is considered to be in the most important meetings in history.
Today is the second day of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit in The Hague City, Netherlands and will have a meeting of heads of member countries. The meeting will run only three hours and the manifesto issued will be only 5 paragraphs. This has been done because of this, countries do not come out openly.
This time meeting is considered to be in the most important meetings in the history of NATO. This is happening at a time when the Iran-Israel Jung in the Middle East has been ceasefire after 12 days, the war continues in the Russia-Ukraine and the whole world economy is unstable.
King Wilm-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands organized dinner for heads of NATO countries and heads of government on Tuesday.
Differences on Article 5-Defense Budget in Trump and other countries
There itself, Earlier on Tuesday, differences in the organization were seen deepening. The biggest concern at the summit was between mutual differences over defense spending between NATO countries. NATO General Secretary Mark Rute said that the organization can deal with issues like Ukraine. But Trump refused to directly support the NATO’s most important treaty Article 5 (Promise to protect each other).
Trump wants all member countries to spend 5% of their GDP on defense, although currently European countries contribute only 30% and only 2% of GDP. Trump believes that America gives a lot of money to NATO and the rest of the countries are not fulfilling their responsibility properly.
NATO agenda on 3.5% -1.5% agreement
Keeping in mind the demands of US President Donald Trump, NATO General Secretary Mark Roote has set the agenda of the summit. The main emphasis in the meeting was on increasing defense spending by European countries, which Trump has been asking for a long time.
Amid the ongoing differences in NATO, General Secretary Mark Roote has made a new proposal. According to this proposal, member countries will have to spend 3.5% of their GDP directly on army and weapons and 1.5% on such works which are related to defense.
The definition of 1.5% spending in the proposal is very open. This means that every country can understand it in its own way and can call any expenses ‘defense spending’. Some countries such as Poland, Estonia and Lithuania (who are more threatened by Russia) are trying their best to achieve this goal.
But the rest of the European countries are still far behind in meeting this expense. This expenditure is very large for many countries and they will probably not be able to reach this target by 2032 or 2035.
On the first day of the NATO meeting, a reception was also organized for all ministers of all members.
Spain in protest against this proposal
General Secretary Mark Rutte had expressed confidence that all 32 countries would support this proposal. In view of the danger from Russia, Poland, Germany, Netherlands and Scandinavian countries are also supporting this proposal.
At the same time, Spain made it clear that it cannot put 5% of his GDP on defense spending. Spain opposed this and said that it would not spend more than 2.1%. The government of Sanchez is already under corruption and political pressure, and in such a situation it has become more difficult to increase the expenditure. Countries like France, Italy, Canada and Belgium are also not comfortable to spend so much.
General Secretary Mark Rute held a press conference before the NATO Summit on Monday at the World Forum in Hague.
This time there is no discussion on strategy against Russia
The center of the past few NATO Summit used to be Russia. But this time the discussion on the strategy against Russia was removed from this summit to avoid confrontation with Trump. Ukrainian President Volodimir Jailonsky has been invited, but he was not invited to the main summit. They were limited to just one pre -conference dinner.
The US plans to remove some soldiers from the eastern part of NATO, which has increased anxiety in European countries. The Defense Minister of Italy even said that an organization like NATO is no longer relevant as before. However, Rute expressed confidence that Russia’s common threats would keep all countries united and America’s commitment still remains.
Know what is Nato? Why was it established? Why is Trump criticizing NATO countries?
Soviet Union allegations of rigging in elections, then NATO
After the Second World War, the USSR i.e. the Soviet Union (today’s Russia) helped form communist governments in Poland, East Germany, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. He was also accused of rigging the election.
The Soviet Union was also planned to dominate the Turks and Greece. The Soviet Union wanted to control the world’s trade through Black C from control over these two countries. Western countries considered these steps of the USSR like an invasion. These countries feared that Communism would spread throughout Europe.
To deal with this, the US announced Truman Doctrine (Truman Siddhant) in 1947. Under this, he said to support the countries opposing Communism. Along with this, the US introduced a martial plan for the financial assistance and re-development of European countries destroyed in the Second World War. It was officially called the European Recovery Program.
The countries of Western Europe signed a security agreement to counter the dangers of the USSR. In 1948, Britain, France, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg signed the Treaty of Brussels. However, these countries needed America to compete with the Soviet Union. So he demanded a large military alliance.
On 4 April 1949, 12 countries, including the US, signed the North Atlantic Treaty and formed NATO. According to Article 5 of this agreement, if one member country is attacked, then all member countries will protect it.
France separated from NATO, joined again after 43 years
In 1966, France partially separated itself from NATO. The then President Charls de Gaul believed that the US and Britain had more influence in this organization and this is affecting France’s sovereignty.
Gaul wanted France’s military policy not to have foreign control. As a result, France separated itself from NATO’s joint military command. He removed the NATO headquarters and American troops in the country. However, France remained a political member of the organization and in 2009, France became the military member of NATO during President Nicolas Sarkozy’s reign.
Greece left Nato after a Turki dispute
In 1974, there was a coup in Cyprus, which was supported by Greece. Its purpose was to mix Cyprus with Greece. Angered by this, the Turkes attacked Cyprus and captured one third of his area.
Both Greece and Turkas were members of NATO. Greece felt that NATO did not try to stop the Turks. Greece got angry and separated himself from Nato’s military activities, although he also remained a political member. Six years later, in 1980, Greece again joined NATO by military mediation.
There were many more controversies between NATO countries
Türkiye and America also have severe tension. The US, especially during the Syrian conflict, supported the Kurdish fighters, which the Turkas consider to be a terrorist organization. This led to a deep dispute between the two countries.
Apart from this, Turki also bought the S-400 missile defense system from Russia. This also became a major issue between the two countries. The US described it as a threat to NATO security and in response, Turkey was dropped from the F-35 fighter jet program.
Hungary, the country of Eastern Europe, has also been a matter of concern for Western countries many times. Prime Minister Victor Orban is accused of weakening democracy and freedom of the press. Hungary’s foreign policy often appears close to Russia. Many proposals related to Ukraine have also been veto by Hungary, which has affected NATO decisions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) with Hungary Prime Minister Victor Orban (left). The picture is of 2019 Budapest.
Trump threatens to leave NATO
US President Donald Trump has also expressed displeasure over NATO. Trump repeatedly said that the European countries are not spending enough for their safety and the US is bearing all the burden. He even said that if the European countries do not spend 2% GDP on defense, then the US can also move away from the organization.
Donald Trump has been advocating the US out of NATO for the last two decades. As the presidential candidate in 2016, Trump said that if Russia attacks Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), they will help only after seeing whether they have completed their duty for America or not.
Trump believes that the European countries are enjoying NATO facilities at the US expenses. After becoming President in 2017, he had threatened to leave NATO. Trump had clearly stated in an interview in 2024 that the countries which are spending less than 2% on their defense budget, if Russia attacks them, America will not come to help them. On the contrary, they will encourage Russia to attack.
Europe on the trust of America for security
After the Second World War (1939–45), Europe had become economically and military weakened economically. On the other hand, America emerged as the world’s biggest power after dropping atomic bombs on Japan.
America had the world’s most powerful army and nuclear weapons. He provided nuclear security to European countries. European countries did not need to develop their nuclear weapons from this.
The US, especially the European countries guarantees nuclear security against nuclear attacks from Russia. This reduces the military expenses of European countries.
America’s strong military presence in Europe. More than 1 million American soldiers are present in Germany, Poland and Britain. The US has built military base here and deployed missile defense systems. The presence of America assures Europe of security.
Europe’s military power on the other hand is limited. Most European countries spend less on defense than America. The European Union (EU) does not have organized army like NATO. Even powerful countries like Germany and France are dependent on America for intelligence and technology.
If the US leaves the alliance, Europe will need to meet its plans and spend- perhaps 3 percent. They have to bridge the lack of ammunition, transport, fuel aircraft, command and control system, satellites, drones, etc., which are currently provided by the US.
NATO members such as UK and France have 500 atmy weapons, while Russia alone has 6000. If America goes out of NATO, the alliance will have to give a fresh shape to its nuclear-policy.