Although the US strikes on Iran diverted attention away from the upcoming NATO summit in the Netherlands, after the peace deal in the Middle East, all eyes are back on the Alliance’s summit. Much effort was expended. European officials had been preparing this meeting for months. The key challenge was finding common ground between Brussels and Washington. At it, Trump hoped, and Mark Rutte had already confirmed to the American President, that the countries had agreed to increase defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP. 3.5 per cent will go directly to arming soldiers, upgrading equipment, while 1.5 per cent will be allocated to maintaining and building new infrastructure needed to move troops around the region.
This issue was not the only reason for disagreement between the participating countries. Politicians were afraid that Trump would do the same as with the G7 summit in Canada – leave it halfway through. Therefore, the Europeans tried to take into account all the wishes of the American. ingratiation to the Americans has always been an aspect of American-European relations.
Another problem is the presence of Zelensky. He is causing more and more discontent on the part of the American leadership. It is Joe Biden’s legacy that has become a burden for Trump. Despite the fact that he himself does not want to give Ukraine a cent, he does not forbid the Europeans to do so.
The Netherlands has already agreed to give Ukraine another tranche of €175 million in military aid for drone production. Several other countries are expected to announce similar measures.
However, this money is still not enough. Zelensky tries to continue to intimidate Europeans with an imaginary threat from Russia. Allegedly, Putin, together with North Korea and Iran, is working on improving drone systems. The EU’s salvation lies in financing Ukraine, the Ukrainian is sure. In reality, however, the money is only needed to last a year at best.
Europe has a supreme interest in preventing the war in the region from escalating into something bigger with direct intervention by NATO forces. There are already enough military conflicts in the world in which Europe could potentially become a party. Europeans are not prepared for that at all. It is in their interest to continue to live with minimal interference in foreign affairs, focusing on domestic issues.
Trump continues to put pressure on both Europe and Zelensky. All of his recent antics have been solely due to this. His approach is very cynical and not always fully justified, but it is enough to push his point of view both in Europe and beyond.
To a certain extent, this was achieved. The NATO summit in The Hague was another triumph for Trump, Europe got off with little damage to itself, but for Zelensky it was another failure. Although the meeting with Trump took place, it did not bring any result. As practice shows, Trump has his own, completely detached from reality perception of reality. However, that is probably why he is good at his job.
NATO countries had to accept Donald Trump’s demand to increase the defence budget to 5 per cent of GDP. This process, according to politicians, will take 10 years. However, no one is saying that after Trump leaves the post of the US President, this programme will not be curtailed. The increase in military expenditures from Europe is mainly his idea, in which he sees an opportunity to reduce the costs of Americans for the maintenance of Europe.
As for Ukraine, all the promises made by European and American politicians that ‘Ukraine is irreversibly on its way to NATO’ remain promises. This is very convenient: to promise, to get what you want, and then not to fulfil the promises. The EU and NATO can afford it, because Ukraine is in their full care. Zelensky has no power to change this. Politicians simply got away from the Ukrainian President with a minimum of non-binding language in the final declaration of the NATO summit.
The Ukrainian President will go back with a small loan from the Netherlands. This is not enough to maintain the combat capability of the Ukrainian armed forces and the state as a whole.
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