NATO is considering ending its recent practice of organizing annual summits, sources told Reuters on Monday, a move that could avoid a potentially tense interaction with Donald Trump in his last year of office, reports Agerpres.
The Trump administration has criticized European allies in the alliance for not allocating enough defense funds and, more recently, for not providing additional support to US military operations against Iran.
The frequency of NATO summits has varied over its 77 years of existence, but the leaders of the member countries have met every summer starting from 2021 and will do the same this year, when they will gather in Ankara on July 7 and 8. However, some members are making efforts to reduce the frequency of these meetings, a high-ranking European official and five diplomats, all from NATO member countries, told Reuters.
A diplomat stated that the NATO summit of 2027, which will be hosted by Albania, will likely take place in the fall of next year, and that NATO is considering not organizing any such meeting in 2028, the year of the US presidential elections and the last calendar year of Donald Trump’s second term at the White House.
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