The draft of the final declaration for the NATO summit in Ankara (July 7–9) no longer mentions Albania as the host of next year’s meeting. According to alliance sources, this is no oversight but a deliberate pressure tactic: Tirana must “step up and spend more money,” or it will lose the host role, Euronews quoted a NATO source as saying.
At last year’s summit in The Hague, NATO members committed to raising defense spending to five percent of economic output by 2035. Albania currently spends around 1.49 percent – well below the original two-percent target. Slovenia and the Czech Republic are also lagging, even though they officially meet the two-percent mark. According to NATO sources, these figures do not accurately reflect the real situation.
US Ambassador to Mathew Whitaker told reporters on Wednesday that European states could no longer “let themselves be carried through the security architecture at the expense of American taxpayers.” Some partners had “free-ridden.” The United States is demanding a “credible” plan from delinquent allies to meet the five-percent target on time.
Source: de.euronews.com
