The new US Secretary of Defence, Lloyd Austin, will meet with his Defence counterparts for his first NATO ministerial meeting, on Wednesday 17 and Thursday 18 February.
On Wednesday, ministers will discuss the future of the Alliance and the proposals of the Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, for NATO 2030.
On Monday 15 February, Mr Stoltenberg presented his ideas during a press conference. The Secretary General, first of all, said he wanted NATO funding to be increased for essential deterrence and defence activities. “This would support Allied deployments in our battlegroups in the eastern part of our Alliance, air policing, maritime deployments and exercises”, he explained.
Mr Stoltenberg also advocates for the adoption of clearer and more measurable national resilience targets to ensure a minimum standard of shared resilience among Allies. In his view, an annual review of vulnerabilities in Alliance critical infrastructure and technologies, including those stemming from foreign ownership and influence, should be conducted.
In order to preserve the Allies’ technological lead, the Secretary General stated that he intends to propose a NATO defence innovation initiative to promote interoperability and boost transatlantic cooperation on defence innovation.
Mr Stoltenberg said he also wants to make the Alliance more political and will propose ways to increase political coordination between Allies, with more consultations on more issues, including economic matters related to security. “We have the procedures in place to do this today. But what we need is more political will to use them”, explained Mr Stoltenberg. Interior ministers or national security advisers could also meet within the NATO framework, he said.
According to the Secretary General, in order to face global challenges, a more comprehensive approach is needed, and the Alliance must therefore enhance its political dialogue and practical cooperation with like-minded partners, in order to “promote our values and protect our interests”. The Secretary General said he also intends to strengthen training and capacity building in partner countries in the Alliance’s neighbourhood.
The Alliance should address the security implications of climate change, Mr Stoltenberg added, saying he wants to propose that NATO contribute to the goal of net zero carbon emissions and conduct an annual assessment of how climate change might impact troops and deployments (see EUROPE 12651/23).
Finally, Mr Stoltenberg recommended updating NATO’s Strategic Concept “to jointly address the changing strategic environment, to recommit to our values and to reinforce the transatlantic bond”. The current Strategic Concept dates from 2010.
The final proposal for NATO 2030 will be presented at the Alliance’s summit later this year.
Defence spending and missions in Afghanistan and Iraq
On Thursday, Defence Ministers will discuss fairer burden-sharing within the Alliance and review progress. “2021 will be the seventh consecutive year of increased defence spending. Since 2014, the European Allies and Canada have made a cumulative additional contribution of 190 billion US dollars”, Mr. Stoltenberg said. This year, nine Allies are expected to devote 2% of their GDP to defence and 24 Allies are expected to spend at least 20 % of investment in equipment (see EUROPE 12586/24). The ambition agreed between the Allies is to reach these goals of 2% and 20% by 2024.
Finally, the ministers will take stock of the Alliance’s missions in Afghanistan and Iraq and assess the situation on the ground.
In Afghanistan, “we will continue to take all measures to ensure the safety of our troops. And we will consider the next steps in a deliberate and coordinated way”, Stoltenberg stressed. He recalled that while no Ally wants to stay in the country longer than necessary, they would not leave before the time is right. The agreement between the United States and the Taliban at the end of February 2020 includes the withdrawal of US and Allied troops from Afghanistan within 14 months - i.e. by May 2021 - if the insurgents respect the terms of the agreement (see EUROPE 12437/9), but the situation is still fragile on the ground and the level of violence is very high, including due to Taliban attacks.
Regarding the mission in Iraq, according to the Secretary General, ministers will agree to “launch an expanded mission, with more Allied personnel training and advising in more security institutions across the country”. “The mission will expand gradually, in response to the situation”, he said, adding that this was in response to requests from the Iraqi government and close coordination with the global coalition.
The Allies will also hold talks with their Finnish and Swedish colleagues and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)