Dreading a Meeting with the U.S.? NATO Likely to Skip Next Year's Summit

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) appears set to skip a summit that was scheduled to be held in Albania next year. The move is being viewed as an effort to avoid a confrontation between U.S. and European leaders, as U.S. President Donald Trump has voiced frustration over European allies' defense spending and the war in Iran.

According to the Associated Press (AP) on Nov. 15 (local time), Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said at the European Political Community (EPC) summit in Dublin, Ireland, on Nov. 12, "There is no common position yet on when to hold the NATO summit, but it definitely will not be held in 2027." He added that if a summit is held in 2028, it will take place in Albania.

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AP noted that NATO's move to scale back its summit schedule comes amid continuing tensions between the United States and its European allies. Trump has pressured European member states to increase their defense spending and repeatedly threatened to withdraw from NATO, accusing them of not helping the United States with its operations in the war in Iran.

NATO is scaling back ministerial meetings as well as summits. According to AP, NATO did not hold its defense ministers' meeting, which is usually held every October, last month and will not hold one next October either. The foreign ministers' meeting will also be cut from twice a year to once next year. NATO described the changes as part of a "meeting schedule restructuring package."

Tensions between the United States and its European allies have also been evident at ministerial meetings. Since the Trump Administration took office, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have each skipped NATO meetings or left before they ended. Hegseth, in particular, has strongly pressured European allies and Canada at defense ministers' meetings to increase their defense spending.

NATO, however, maintains that it is an overstatement to say the reduced summit schedule is due to internal divisions within the alliance. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told AP, "We are flexible about holding summits," adding, "We will hold them when necessary."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.