The first day of the two-day summit of the military alliance NATO in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, has ended.
The first day of the summit was dominated by the Welcome to NATO’s newest member, Finland, and promises to bring Sweden’s NATO membership to the finish line soon. NATO also promised to continue supporting Ukraine, but the length of Ukraine’s road to becoming a NATO member remained unclear.
In this article, the three most important themes from the first day of the summit are compiled.
1. NATO’s newest member was welcomed
The Secretary General of NATO, who was recently elected for an extended term of one year Jens Stoltenberg directed the words to the president representing the newest member of the military union in his opening speech of the summit To Sauli Niinistö.
– I welcome President Niinistö, who has participated in many previous meetings. But this is the first summit where you are a full member of the union. Welcome, Sauli!
President Niinistö wrote from Vilnius that he was happy to lead the Finnish delegation at the summit for the first time as an ally. The delegation also includes, among others, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen (collector) and the Minister of Defense Antti Häkkänen (collect.).
– An important moment for Finland, an important moment for NATO, Niinistö wrote on Twitter.
In his opening speech, Stoltenberg also targeted the Prime Minister of Sweden For Ulf Kristersson.
After the short applause aimed at Niinistö, Stoltenberg also welcomed the Prime Minister of Sweden by Ulf Kristersson.
Sweden’s NATO membership suddenly moved forward last night, when the president of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan did a full translation and promised to support Sweden’s membership. The United States, on the other hand, said it was ready to promote F-16 fighter jet sales to Turkey.
Today also the foreign minister of Hungary Péter Szijjártón said that the ratification of Sweden’s membership is no longer a technical issue.
– We will soon also welcome Sweden as a full member of the union, so welcome to you too, Stoltenberg told Kristersson.
The President of the United States, who arrived at the summit from London in the afternoon Joe Biden on the other hand characterized Finland’s and Sweden’s accession to NATO as significant. Biden especially thanked Stoltenberg, who was granted a one-year extension as NATO Secretary General during the summit.
– Your leadership has been decisive, Biden said.
2. Ukraine’s path to becoming a NATO member is not yet confirmed
During the summit, the biggest question was related to how clearly NATO promises in Vilnius to accept Ukraine as a member of the military alliance in the future.
Ukraine has already been promised NATO membership at the Bucharest summit in 2008, but without concrete details about the timetable for the realization of membership. Secretary General Stoltenberg promised before the start of the meeting that NATO’s message for supporting Ukraine would be “positive, strong and united”.
Today at the summit, a statement was signed again on the matter, but it didn’t exactly clarify Ukraine’s path to NATO.
The wording of the declaration, i.e. the final document of the meeting, had been negotiated for several weeks. Among the NATO countries, for example, Germany and the United States supported more cautious wording as promises to Ukraine. The Baltic countries, Britain and France demanded bolder language and a promise from NATO to invite Ukraine to become a member of the alliance.
The final result of the declaration was a compromise, in which NATO promised to invite Ukraine into the military alliance when “the allies agree and the conditions are met”. The text stated that Ukraine’s “future is in NATO”, but a more specific goal regarding the timetable for Ukraine’s membership was not recorded.
Stoltenberg said that Ukraine’s path to becoming a NATO member will be straightened out by abandoning the Membership Action Plan for Ukraine, which assesses the country’s prerequisites for becoming a NATO member.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi arrived in Vilnius on Tuesday afternoon. Before his arrival, he criticized the message of the statement message service on Twitter.
Zelenskyi wrote that based on the statement, NATO does not seem ready to invite Ukraine as a member.
– It is unprecedented and absurd that no timetable is set for Ukraine’s invitation or membership. At the same time, vague wording about “conditions” is added, even for inviting Ukraine [Naton jäseneksi]Zelenskyi wrote.
According to Zelenskyi, the message given by NATO speaks of uncertainty, which gives Russia an incentive to continue the war in Ukraine.
Stoltenberg, on the other hand, said at the press conference that NATO’s promise to Ukraine is strong. NATO promises to supply Ukraine with weapons for several years in order to unify the country’s military equipment with NATO.
– Ukraine is being helped to move from Soviet-era equipment to NATO-level equipment and doctrine, Stoltenberg said.
NATO will also establish a Ukraine Council for discussions between NATO and Ukraine. The Council will meet for the first time tomorrow, Wednesday, with President Zelensky in attendance, Stoltenberg said.
3. The countries committed themselves to the target level of defense budgets
Secretary General Stoltenberg said at Tuesday evening’s press conference that NATO member countries must invest more in common defense and commit to the target level of the military alliance in terms of the size of their defense budgets.
At the summit, the member countries promised a “sustainable commitment” that the member countries raise their defense budgets to the target level. NATO’s target for defense spending is two percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
Stoltenberg also thanked several countries for the increases in their defense budgets over the past year. Stoltenberg said that an estimate made by NATO shows that the defense spending of European member states and Canada will increase by 8.3 percent during the current year.
– This is the biggest increase in decades, Stoltenberg spoke.
According to Stoltenberg, a total of eleven of the 31 NATO countries currently reach or exceed the two percent target level. Stoltenberg said he expects the number of countries to increase significantly over the next year.
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