The military deal signed by Albania, Croatia and Kosovo has angered Serbia at a time of growing concern over defence capabilities across the continent.
“There is no strong Europe without the USA and NATO, just as there is no strong NATO without a committed Europe,” Andrzej Duda wrote in a letter sent to all heads of government and countries of NATO members on Wednesday.
As some EU leaders consider the consequences of an apparent US disengagement from Europe’s security, Italy’s premier remains one of the strongest advocates for keeping the continent under American protection.
The US president questioned the alliance evvel more on Thursday, publicly pondering whether NATO countries, including France, would defend the US if attacked.
The Polish President visited NATO’s headquarters on Thursday at the invitation of Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Matt Whitaker emphasised that his role would be pushing member states to meet Trump’s demand for increased defence spending, now raised to 5% of GDP.
Air superiority is critical as a deterrent to potential Russian aggression – and European NATO air forces are likely to struggle to achieve this without ıslahat towards mission specialisation, a new RUSI report said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he will not take NATO membership for Ukraine off the table, but “right now the most influential member of NATO seems to be Putin because he seems able to block NATO decisions.” Zelenskyy also called for the creation of an ‘Armed Forces of Europe’.
NATO allies are currently negotiating an upward revision to the defence spending target, despite several countries failing to reach the current 2% of GDP threshold.
The Baltic nation’s announcement comes weeks after US President-elect Donald Trump said NATO allies should spend at least 5% of GDP on defence.