{"id":430725,"date":"2025-06-24T20:21:27","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T18:21:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2025\/06\/24\/summit-nato-aia-trump-rutte-zelensky\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T12:06:37","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T10:06:37","slug":"natos-summit-in-the-hague-grapples-with-the-trump-earthquake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2025\/06\/24\/natos-summit-in-the-hague-grapples-with-the-trump-earthquake\/","title":{"rendered":"NATO’s summit in The Hague grapples with the ‘Trump earthquake’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – In the shadow of the escalation in the Middle East<\/strong>, the NATO summit<\/strong>\u00a0has kicked off in The Hague, where member states are expected to give the green light<\/strong> to new defense commitments at 5% of GDP. However,\u00a0several clouds hang over the first summit of the Rutte era, from the conflict between Israel and Iran to the internal dissent led by Spain<\/strong>\u00a0within the Alliance<\/strong>\u00a0against the increase in military spending\u00a0and support for Ukraine<\/strong>. Above all, the whole choreography is designed to minimize the risks associated with the unpredictability of Donald Trump,<\/strong>\u00a0who, however, has already shaken\u00a0the Dutch city<\/strong> before even setting foot there.<\/p>\n

The Two Days of NATO in The Hague<\/strong> began today (24 June), the first summit chaired by Mark Rutte<\/strong> as Secretary General. However,\u00a0the most anticipated and most unpredictable guest, Donald Trump<\/strong>, had\u00a0already embarrassed the head of the Alliance before he even landed<\/strong>. As soon as he took off for the Old Continent – not after having rebuked Iran and Israel<\/a> for having violated the ceasefire he\u00a0brokered<\/strong> (which, however, he says, is still in force) – the tycoon<\/i> posted on his social Truth<\/i> screens of some messages received from the former Dutch premier<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

“Congratulations and thank you for your decisive action in Iran<\/strong>, truly extraordinary, which no one else would have dared to take,” reads the conversation, all set in a particularly accommodating and deferential tone<\/strong> towards the US president, NATO’s majority stakeholder. “Tonight, you will fly to another great success in The Hague,<\/strong>” the messages continue. “You will achieve something that no American president has been able to do in decades,” namely that “Europe will pay a lot, as it should, and it will be your victory.<\/strong>“<\/p>\n

However, precisely on the central issue of increased defense spending<\/strong> (which should rise\u00a0from 2 to 5 percent of GDP<\/a>, distinguishing between a 3.5 percent in ‘classic’<\/strong> military spending plus an additional 1.5 percent in security-related investments<\/strong>),\u00a0 Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez<\/strong>\u00a0has not lifted his reservation yet.<\/p>\n

Face to face\u00a0with Rutte, the Socialist prime minister discussed<\/a> the new target,
\nclaiming to have secured<\/a>\u00a0a specific waiver\u00a0for Madrid<\/strong>.\u00a0On the other hand, the head of the Alliance takes stock of the universality of the new spending commitments<\/strong>. He will likely resolve the issue through a sufficiently vague formulation of the summit’s final communiqu\u00e9, <\/strong>to be signed by the 32 leaders.<\/p>\n

\"Pedro<\/a>
Spanish prime minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez (photo: Javier Soriano\/Afp)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Everything will hinge on the ambiguity of terms<\/strong> and the flexibility granted to the chancelleries<\/strong> to move from current spending levels to those required by NATO in a context in which international security is deteriorating at an alarming rate, also taking into account the new capability targets<\/strong> (specific to each member state) recently revised to maintain credible collective deterrence<\/strong>. On the other hand, all\u00a0other countries (Italy included<\/a>)\u00a0that are still below the previous target, the 2 percent decided back in 2014<\/strong>, are also counting on flexibility – starting with a 10-year horizon set to 2035<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Another embarrassing moment\u00a0by the US president concerns the solidity of the mutual defense clause<\/strong>, enshrined in the infamous Article 5 of the Atlantic Charter<\/strong>. Aboard Air Force One<\/i>, Trump stated that “there are numerous definitions of Article 5,<\/strong>” refusing to confirm whether Washington would defend its European allies<\/strong> in the event of armed aggression. “I pledge to be their friend<\/strong>,” he cut short.<\/p>\n

Statements that will not please the chancelleries of the Old Continent too much, where alarms are multiplying that Vladimir Putin<\/strong>‘s Russia<\/strong> could directly attack a NATO country<\/strong> along the eastern front by the end of the decade<\/strong>. In Rutte’s own words, the Federation remains “the most significant and direct threat to the Alliance.<\/strong>“<\/p>\n

Even Ursula von der Leyen<\/strong> warned,\u00a0“Russia will be able to test our mutual defense commitments within the next five years<\/strong>.” “By 2030, Europe must have everything in place for credible deterrence,” she added. It is necessary to put in place “a new mindset,<\/strong>”\u00a0which will have to allow the 27 member states\u00a0to “explore new ways of doing things, bringing together technology and defense, civil and military,<\/strong>” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Mark<\/a>
NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte (photo: Nato)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What about Ukraine<\/strong>? The Hague summit must also serve to reaffirm the Atlantic Alliance’s support for Kyiv’s resistance<\/strong>, but this time, the issue will enjoy less spotlight<\/strong> than at previous summits. To avoid\u00a0irritating the sensitivities of Trump — who is not so fond of his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky<\/strong>\u00a0— Zelensky was not\u00a0invited to participate in the\u00a0leaders’ only working session<\/strong> scheduled for tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Today, the Ukrainian president cashed in on reassurances and praise from EU leaders. “We will continue to give full support to Ukraine<\/strong> and to exert pressure on Russia through sanctions<\/strong>,” said European Council President Ant\u00f3nio Costa<\/strong>, congratulating the government in Kyiv on the “extraordinary work<\/strong>” it has done in implementing pre-accession reforms<\/strong> despite being bombed by the Kremlin. According to the former Portuguese Prime Minister, “We have achieved the conditions to advance the ongoing negotiation process”<\/strong> and get the country into the twelve-star club as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

In contrast, Ukraine’s entry into NATO remains\u00a0in limbo<\/strong>. Notwithstanding Rutte’s declarations, which reiterated for the umpteenth time the irreversible<\/strong> nature of Kyiv’s path towards the Alliance (“it still applies today and will continue to apply on Thursday,” he assures), the day when all current members will give their unanimous consent is still far off.<\/p>\n

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The first summit chaired by Mark Rutte must avoid a split within the Alliance over the new military spending target of 5% of GDP, the Middle East, and Ukraine. And above all, over the US president, who continues to remain evasive about Washington’s commitment<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7876,"featured_media":430720,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[30809,25707],"tags":[26411,26042,31262,27175,26329,31521,27709,31589],"class_list":["post-430725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-defence-security","category-world-politics","tag-mark-rule-one","tag-nato-en-10","tag-pedro-sanchez-en","tag-summit-born-the-barnyard"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7876"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430725"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":430749,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430725\/revisions\/430749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}