At their meeting in Brussels on Wednesday, 20 November, NATO Foreign Ministers are expected to agree to make space the Alliance's fifth operational domain.
“In a fast-changing world, NATO continues to adapt to face strategic challenges. (...) I expect ministers will agree to recognise space as an operational domain, alongside air, land, sea, and cyber”, said Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. “Space is essential to the Alliance’s defence and deterrence, for early warning, communication and navigation”, he explained.
According to Stoltenberg, “recognising space as an operational domain will be a clear sign that we continue to strengthen our deterrence and defence in all areas”. The Secretary General also explained that although NATO's approach will remain defensive and fully in line with international law and although the Alliance has no intention of sending weapons into space, the Allies need to ensure their missions and operations get the support they require.
About half of the 2,000 satellites currently orbiting the Earth belong to Allies, according to NATO.
The ministers’ meeting will also focus on NATO's role in the fight against terrorism and work to counter hybrid threats, including with 5G. “We will also discuss other strategic issues, including the implications of the rise of China, the future of arms control, and energy security”, the Secretary General said. Stoltenberg added that, while Russia had returned the three Ukrainian vessels seized in the Azov Sea, which it had held for almost a year, the situation in Ukraine would also be addressed by ministers, and a Normandy Format summit was planned for 9 December (see EUROPE 12370/29).
Ministers are expected to finalise preparations for the meeting of NATO Heads of State and Government in London on 3 and 4 December. This will be a high-level meeting “which is timely”, according to Stoltenberg, whereas French President Emmanuel Macron believes that the Alliance is in a state of “brain death” (see EUROPE 12365/31).
“The EU and North America are doing more together in NATO today than we have for decades”, the Secretary General said. “There is no contradiction between the EU and the transatlantic Alliance. We need more EU efforts on defence, not as an alternative to the Alliance, but to strengthen the European pillar within NATO”, he stressed. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)