So there will be a certain feeling of déjà vu in the American capital when leaders from 32 nations meet starting July 9, 2024, to discuss the state of the alliance as it turns 75.
Yet the scale of the challenges that NATO faces today, both within and without the organization, dwarfs what it confronted as it commemorated its 50th anniversary in 1999. The war in Ukraine has now been raging on for more than two years. NATO also has to contemplate the rise of China and the challenges that brings to geopolitics. Meanwhile, various members of the alliance are also experiencing political challenges at home and consequential elections.
Other issues on the NATO summit’s agenda include the development of a new southern flank strategy to confront growing security challenges in the Middle East and North Africa and the introduction of a new secretary general, Mark Rutte.
But it’s the following four topics that will likely dominate discussions in Washington from July 9 to July 11. How the alliance tackles them will go some way in signaling the health of NATO as it turns 75 – and the future direction of the alliance.
1. Ukraine membership: A battle of semantics?
NATO first expressed its support for Ukraine’s joining the alliance in 2008 but offered no timeline for moving forward. That state of limbo has continued to plague the alliance ever since. At the 2023 NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, the alliance did not seem in a terrible rush, declaring: “We will be in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the alliance when allies agree and conditions are met.”
This vague wording led to a fierce and frustrated public reaction from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who denounced the language as “unprecedented and absurd.”
The Washington summit will once again be a delicate exercise in semantics. A formal invitation to join will not be on the table for Ukraine, as several countries still oppose that step. The U.S. and Germany, in particular, have stated they first want to see more improvement from the government in Kyiv when it comes to tackling corruption and upholding the rule of law.
So there will be a certain feeling of déjà vu in the American capital when leaders from 32 nations meet starting July 9, 2024, to discuss the state of the alliance as it turns 75.
Yet the scale of the challenges that NATO faces today, both within and without the organization, dwarfs what it confronted as it commemorated its 50th anniversary in 1999. The war in Ukraine has now been raging on for more than two years. NATO also has to contemplate the rise of China and the challenges that brings to geopolitics. Meanwhile, various members of the alliance are also experiencing political challenges at home and consequential elections.
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