NATO meeting in Madrid: “Historic” summit with “unquestionable message”

Secretary General Stoltenberg and US President Biden speak of a “historic” summit. The meeting in Madrid will send the “undoubted message” that NATO is strong and united.

The heads of state and government of the 30 NATO members met in Madrid for a summit meeting to set the course for the future of the alliance in the wake of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. In addition, a new strategic concept for NATO is to be adopted at the summit, in which dealings with China are to be formulated for the first time.

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and US President Joe Biden spoke of a “historic” summit. Stoltenberg referred to the decision to invite Finland and Sweden to join. Biden underlined that the obligation to provide assistance under Article 5 of the NATO treaty is “sacred”. The “undoubted message” that NATO is strong and united will go out from the summit, Biden said in a brief appearance with Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

“Both countries fit very well with our alliance”

Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz also welcomed the fact that the way was clear for Sweden and Finland to join NATO. “Both countries fit very well with our alliance,” he said at the summit. Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock classified the NATO expansion to include the two northern countries as a strengthening of the alliance. “Finland and Sweden are very, very strong liberal democracies, are EU partners, are EU members,” said the Greens politician on ZDF. “They have strong armies of their own.”

As non-NATO members, they would have invested a lot of money in their own military. “That means the accession of Finland and Sweden will also make NATO stronger, both in terms of defense capabilities but also as a common alliance for democracy and international law.”

Turkey gives the green light to join NATO

The traditionally militarily neutral states of Finland and Sweden have applied for NATO membership under the impression of the war in Ukraine. A veto by Turkey over concerns about how the two northern states would deal with Kurdish separatists was cleared on Tuesday evening.

Finland maintains a 1,300-kilometer border with Russia. Accession must be decided unanimously by the NATO countries. All 30 members then have to ratify the admission by parliamentary resolution. Stoltenberg said he expects that to happen quickly.

Biggest crisis since World War II

Referring to the war in Ukraine, the Secretary-General said it was the biggest crisis since World War II. The new strategic concept aims to strengthen NATO’s resilience. This also includes strengthening rapid operational readiness, especially on the eastern flank.

Biden announced the relocation of other American units to Europe, including a fifth headquarters for the European US armed forces in Poland. The US President emphasized that NATO is being equipped to counter threats from all directions, on land, in the air and at sea.

Support Ukraine for as long as necessary

Upon his arrival at the conference venue, Scholz pointed out that Germany had increased its contributions in order to defend its Eastern European NATO partners against possible attacks. He held out the prospect of further arms deliveries to Ukraine. In addition to humanitarian and financial aid, “weapons that Ukraine urgently needs will be made available,” said the Chancellor. “The message is: we will continue this for as long and as intensively as is necessary for Ukraine to be able to defend itself.”

In the new strategic NATO concept, China is to be viewed as a “systemic challenge”. Allianz also wants to address the issue of cyber security more closely in the concept