Media: NATO prepares mini-declaration for summit and will likely not mention Ukraine because of Trump
The final communiqué of the NATO summit to be held in The Hague in June will be significantly shortened, and Russia and Ukraine may not be mentioned.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty writes that this summit is being organised in such a way as to gain the approval of US President Donald Trump and avoid large-scale conflicts similar to those at the 2018 summit in Brussels.
Because of this, according to RFE/RL, the final communiqué of the Hague summit will be significantly shortened.
According to NATO representatives, the goal is for the final document to consist of only three to four paragraphs. This is significantly less than in the documents following the last summits.
In particular, the 2024 Washington Declaration consisted of 40 paragraphs, while the Vilnius communiqué, adopted in 2023, had as many as 90 paragraphs and covered a wide range of issues.
It is also noted that this year's text may not contain any direct references to Russia, and possibly Ukraine.
The news outlet reiterated that Ukraine dominated the agenda of previous summits (in Washington and Vilnius). There were also heated debates on whether to offer the country membership in the Alliance and how to determine its future path to accession.
However, as one European official said, since Trump rules out the possibility of Ukraine's rapid accession to NATO, it may be better not to mention Ukraine in the declaration at all, at least for now.
Any attempt to agree on wording could result in a weaker statement than the one adopted in Washington in 2024, where the Alliance at least committed to continuing to support Kyiv "on its irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership".
At the summit in The Hague, NATO leaders are expected to agree on a new defence spending target. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will propose that countries increase spending to 3.5% of GDP and spend an additional 1.5% of GDP on defence-related purposes.
US officials have told their NATO allies that although Trump plans to attend the summit in The Hague in the summer, he may decide to cancel the visit if the other members of the Alliance do not agree to increase spending.