"De Telegraaf": Why might the US reject the NATO summit in Albania?

One of the topics being discussed behind the scenes of the NATO summit in Ankara is the future of organizing the next summit in Albania, which was initially planned for next year, as "De Telegraaf" writes .

According to Dutch media, there are several reasons that are pushing towards uncertainty over holding this summit, including the United States' preference for fewer large international meetings, as well as the alliance's focus on more pressing security issues and military spending.

Another factor mentioned is the internal debate within NATO about the distribution of the financial burden among member countries, where some countries have not yet achieved previous defense investment targets.

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What is the most important topic?

Allies must show where they stand on the Hague norm. During the historic NATO summit in the Netherlands, it was agreed that all allies will invest at least 3.5% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on defense by 2035. In addition, they must spend another 1.5% of their economies on defense-related spending, such as infrastructure, cybersecurity, and sustainability.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will release the latest figures in Ankara on Monday.

The Netherlands is doing well: investment in its armed forces has exceeded 2.5%. However, for defense-related spending, due to a perhaps overly strict accounting methodology, it remains at 1.4%.

But Spain's left-wing government has yet to take action. Albania, the Czech Republic and Slovenia even fell below NATO's old 2% target last year.

Will these "defaulters" be punished?

Albania was supposed to host the NATO summit next year, but during the Ankara summit this will most likely not be formalized.

Besides low defense spending, another reason is that Americans want fewer meetings.

Regarding Spain, the US ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, is clear: "President Donald Trump is disappointed."

Not only does leftist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez refuse to cooperate on NATO's new objective, but he also hindered the Americans during the Iran war by closing airspace and blocking the use of airports.

However, Whitaker does not expect punitive measures.

What about spending all these billions?

This is another important subject of the summit.

The defense industry needs to produce much more. Tuesday will be the "show day" in Ankara. The idea is to sign new defense contracts worth tens of billions of euros. Dutch defense companies will also participate.

It is also expected that Germany will finally purchase Tomahawk missiles, while the Americans will begin joint production of the weapons in Europe.

Turkey has been on the "punishment bench" for years and has not been able to buy F-35 fighter jets from the US. As a host country, President Erdoğan hopes to get the green light.

President Trump has already hinted that he may have a “gift.” The White House resident is very fond of the Turkish leader.

"He's a little controversial. But so am I," Trump joked.

What will be decided about Ukraine?

Prime Minister Rob Jetten and other leaders will confirm that Kiev can count on 70 billion euros this year and next.

Most of this amount is already covered by a European Union loan (30 billion euros per year) and by planned contributions from major supporters such as the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark.

Rutte's plan for a fair burden-sharing among the 32 allies was not approved. Even this non-binding commitment caused disagreements with Italy.

However, on Friday Rome agreed, thus avoiding debates during the summit.

Where could it go wrong?

The decisions of the NATO summit have been prepared in advance. But that doesn't mean there can't be problems.

In the Czech Republic, the president and prime minister are debating who should go to Ankara.

However, all eyes are on Trump. He is angry about the lack of cooperation during the war in Iran and with countries that are not meeting their financial obligations.

Everyone hopes that Mark Rutte will be able to calm him down.

But a senior NATO diplomat put it bluntly: "With Trump, you never know."