No two days are alike. While, on Wednesday 11 July, the US president, Donald Trump, had lashed out at the Allies that do not spend enough for their defence (see EUROPE 12060), on Thursday 12 July he said he was pleased with the commitments taken during the NATO summit.
Addressing the press after the summit he explained: “We have made tremendous progress today (the 12th)”. “Yesterday (the 11th), I told them I was extremely displeased at what was happening and they stepped up their commitments considerably”, he explained modestly. “The 2% of GDP threshold for military spending has become a real commitment. (The Allies) have agreed to pay more and more rapidly”, he added.
Trump said that NATO was “far more powerful than two days ago” before the summit, a sentiment shared by Emmanuel Macron, of France.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told the press: “Since President Trump took office, European Allies and Canada have added an additional $41 billion to their defence spending. And all Allies have committed to raise this number substantially. So we are stepping up as never before”.
And Trump has everything to do with the Allies’ re-engagement. “All Allies have heard President Trump’s message loud and clear. We understand that this American president is very serious about defence spending. And this is having a clear impact”, Stoltenberg explained.
The question of defence spending of 2% of GDP was at the heart of the summit. Although the subject was discussed at a working session on the 11th, it was also tackled during dinner and the Allies took the matter up again during an additional session not initially scheduled for discussion on this. “We felt we needed more time on the equitable sharing of costs”, Stoltenberg explained. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant and Carmen Garcia)