It was by no means a given that everything would go smoothly and that a final declaration like the one that closed the NATO summit in Ankara would be agreed upon. Trump is still Trump, and despite everything the efforts of NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan The risk that the American president could have derailed a crucial summit for global security at a delicate stage in the geopolitical landscape was not at all remote.
Instead, it is one year after the Hague summit which established increasing defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2035, Ankara's final declaration confirms the central role of Article 5 which establishes the mutual aid obligation for an attacked Member State, recognizes the increase in spending commitments towards 5% of European countries and Canada, announces new contracts for 50 billion dollars for precision missiles, confirms the essential support for Ukraine to which 140 billion dollars in aid are allocated for the next two years and excludes the possibility that Iran could acquire nuclear weapons while committing to ensuring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump: "We attacked Iran because they violated the ceasefire."
Trump explains that the latest attacks on Iran were motivated by Tehran's violations of the ceasefire. A "sick and lying" Iran, Trump says: "I'm not sure I want to have any more agreement with themWe can play, but I'm not sure I want a deal. Let's just finish the job." And in any case, Trump reassures: “The war will not start again, it will be a quick thing”As for his allies, Trump first accused them of leaving him alone in the war against Iran but then said he "felt love." He blamed Spain in particular, while there have been "failures" with Italy, but relations are good. In short, the United States confirms its role as the majority shareholder of the Alliance, which expects its allies to increase contracts for the purchase of US-made weapons systems.
Military spending is playing an increasingly central role in Europe
“Spain was bad, Italy was good and almost everyone was good, they had a bad moment,” said Donald Trump, stressing that “beyond the small disagreements we love each other.” The president then reaffirmed the unity within NATO: “I have never seen anything like this.” But it is increasingly clear that the military spending game is playing a central role For the European effort, which concerns not only the 5% GDP target by 2035 but also the possibility for the United States to secure contracts for military production. Financial aid to Kiev is increasingly being shouldered by Europe, and the United States is aiming for Kiev to produce Patriot missiles as an alternative to the next-generation SAMP/T missiles from the Eurosam consortium (involving the Italian-French group MBDA and Thales), capable of intercepting short- and long-range ballistic missile threats.
Meloni: "I've invested in Western unity, with or without Trump."
However, no clarification between Trump and Meloni, who did not wish to revisit the issue but assured that Italy will honor its commitments without penalizing healthcare and welfare spending: "As for the political investment," the Italian prime minister said, "I absolutely do not regret anything I've done. I made a political investment out of a conviction in the unity of the West, I supported it comprehensively, it's not a strategy I implemented with the arrival of Donald Trump," she added. "I made it with all the interlocutors I encountered. Clearly, there were affinities with Donald Trump, there are affinities on certain political issues, so I clearly believed it could be simpler." And on the use of US bases in Italy, she reiterated: “A clear line: we do not participate in attacks on Iran.”.
On defense expenses, Meloni claims that "If we invest in our defense, that money must stay in Italy, in our factories, in our research, in our territories, if we increase the resources we invest without addressing the political issue of how we guarantee our control of the fundamental defense supply chains, we risk paying to finance our dependence”.
