Ducking off against Russia: NATO summit is trying around Donald Trump

US President Donald Trump can feel the winner of the NATO summit in the Hague-before he even started. At the United States, the alliance partners agreed to drastically increase expenses for the military and infrastructure. Nevertheless, Allies are unsure whether the United States – despite the agreement – feel unconditionally committed to the alliance.

Trump’s approach to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and the neglect of European voices in the war between Israel and Iran nourish. Despite the ongoing negotiation efforts by the Europeans, the United States had attacked three Iranian nuclear facilities.

At the two -day meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, Allianz hopes for a clear sign of Trump’s unity.

The text for the final declaration for Ukraine should be sobering. According to diplomats, she is only vaguely supported there. Last year, NATO of Ukraine at the summit in Washington had guaranteed to provide security support of 40 billion euros. At that time it was also stated that her path was irreversible to membership. Because of the resistance in particular in the United States, such formulations could no longer be repeated, according to the diplomats.

Trump still hopes to end the Russian attack war against Ukraine by concessions to Putin.

At least five percent of gross domestic product

As the German Press Agency found out after a written decision, the Allies want to clarify at the summit to increase their annual defense-relevant expenses to at least five percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

An amount of at least 3.5 percent of GDP is to be paid to classic military spending. In addition, for example, militarily usable infrastructure worth 1.5 percent of GDP could be counted. The year 2035 is said to be the deadline for the fulfillment of the new goal, as shown in the design of diplomats from the draft for the final declaration. This is to be formally accepted on Wednesday.

At the moment, the NATO target for defense spending only provides annual national expenditure of at least two percent of GDP. The reasons for the agreed increase are in particular the threats of Russia, but also the demand from Trump that Europeans should in future take the main responsibility for conventional deterrence and defense on their continent.

Merz goes with Trump

Germany had already committed itself to Trump’s request at a NATO Foreign Ministers’ meeting in May. Most recently, only Spain had resisted in the circle of 32 NATO countries.

For numerous NATO countries, the new goal is a huge challenge. In the past year, Germany only came up with a quota of around 2.1 percent, and according to Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU), each percentage point would currently mean more than 45 billion euros more for Germany.

According to diplomats, critical countries such as Spain could ultimately be brought on board because a review of the new target was promised for 2029. Then new planning goals for deterrent and defense should be agreed.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also assured Spain’s left-wing head of government Pedro Sánchez in writing that his country does not have to achieve the new percentage goal if the military skills he demanded can also provide it with less money. In Brussels, however, this is considered not very realistic.

Europeans think inconsistently about more defense

The increases of defense spending planned by NATO are not approved everywhere in Europe. There are significant majorities for this in Poland and Denmark (70 percent), Great Britain (57 percent), Estonia (56 percent) and Portugal (54), the “European Council on Foreign Relations” (ECFR) (ECFR) states.

In Germany, 47 percent of those surveyed support higher defense spending. There is also no clear approval in Spain (46 percent) and France and Hungary (45 percent).

Italy can therefore be seen as an outlier, where, according to the survey, 57 percent are strong or in principle against higher defense spending. Only 17 percent of those surveyed support the project.

For the survey, more than 1,000 people were interviewed in the States from mid to the end of May. The thought factory commissioned the opinion research institutes Datapraxis, YouGov and Norstat.

The Hague becomes a fortress: Operation “Orange Shield”

The summit is also logistically a major challenge for the host city of Haag, after all, around 40 heads of state and government are expected in the Dutch coastal city. According to the government, it is the greatest security operation in the history of the Netherlands. The potential for threat is highly assessed in view of the tensions in the Middle East. With the “Orange Shield” operation, the armed forces laid a kind of protective armor around the city. Around 27,000 police officers are on duty. There are also more than 10,000 soldiers.