NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, on Thursday 16 June, that the Madrid Summit from 28 to 30 June would be “a transformative summit”.
He explained, after the meeting of the defence ministers to help prepare the summit, that important decisions will be taken in five key areas: (1) significantly stronger deterrence and defence, (2) sustained support for Ukraine and other “partners at risk”, (3) a new NATO Strategic Concept that will define the Alliance’s position towards Russia, emerging challenges and China, (4) better burden-sharing and resourcing of the Alliance, and (5) the applications for membership by Finland and Sweden.
Support for Ukraine
At their meeting in Brussels on 15 and 16 June, the ministers discussed the situation in Ukraine with their Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksii Reznikov.
“NATO Allies and partners have provided Ukraine with unprecedented support (...), they have now announced additional assistance, including much-needed heavy weapons and long-range systems”, Stoltenberg said after the meeting.
The day before, following a meeting of the Contact Group on support for Ukraine, the Ukrainian minister announced that the US had pledged more weapons, including 155mm guns, Harpoon long-range anti-ship missiles and high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS). Washington has also decided to increase its support by a further $1 billion for military aid to Ukraine, including artillery and long-range fire. For their part, according to the Ukrainian minister, Slovakia will provide helicopters, Canada, Poland and the Netherlands artillery and Germany rocket launcher systems. From Kyiv, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the dispatch of six additional self-propelled Caesar howitzers, in addition to the 12 already deployed.
At the summit, according to Stoltenberg, the Allies could agree on a comprehensive programme of NATO assistance to Ukraine to help the country improve its interoperability with NATO, transition from Soviet-era equipment to modern Alliance equipment and further strengthen security institutions.
Strengthening deterrence
Moreover, according to the Secretary General, Russia’s aggression is also a game-changer for the Alliance, which must maintain a credible deterrent and a strong defence. Ministers discussed the scope and design of the Alliance’s future posture on how it can step up in all areas with “substantial strengthening of (NATO’s) presence, capabilities, and readiness”.
Mr Stoltenberg said this would mean more NATO combat formations deployed forward, more air, sea and cyber defences as well as pre-positioned or pre-stocked equipment and weapons, making it much easier to reinforce the presence quickly if necessary. There would be “a new force model, with more forces at higher readiness, and specific forces pre-assigned to the defence of specific Allies, to enable much faster reinforcement”, he explained. These pre-assigned forces “will train in the specific territory where they have a responsibility”.
The Secretary General also warned that the substantial strengthening of NATO’s deterrence and defence was not free, praising seven consecutive years of increased defence investment across Europe and Canada. “Allies are also contributing to NATO deployments and exercises and investing in more high-end capabilities, including fifth-generation aircraft and emerging technologies”, he recalled, adding that this momentum had to be maintained. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)