The Diplomat
The NATO heads of state and government agreed yesterday in Brussels that Spain will host the next NATO summit in 2022, the first in our country for 25 years.
This was announced by the President of Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, during a joint press conference at the end of the NATO Summit, in which the 30 allies showed their support for NATO 2030, the document that marks the new strategy of the Alliance in the face of new challenges and threats, and discussed Russia, China and Afghanistan.
According to Sánchez, during the 1997 Summit, held in Spain, the allies were “capable of demonstrating cohesion but, above all, vision for the future to face the new strategic scenario that was opening up after the fall of the Berlin Wall.” “I would like to take this spirit of Madrid to the next Summit so that we are able to create a new Strategic Concept that will guide us in the years to come”, added the head of the Executive, who was accompanied in Brussels by the Ministers of Defense, Margarita Robles, and Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya.
The holding of the NATO Summit in Madrid in 2022 will also coincide with the 40th anniversary of Spain’s accession to the Atlantic Alliance. In this regard, according to Moncloa, “Spain’s commitment to NATO is manifested in the fact that our country participates in most of the organization’s missions, and does so with 902 troops.” “Our Armed Forces, with 144,457 people (124,457 military and 20,000 civilians), are the seventh in number of troops in the entire Alliance,” he added. Jens Stoltenberg himself thanked “Spain’s contribution to global security and to the Atlantic Alliance in particular” during his June 4 videoconference meeting with Pedro Sánchez.
On the other hand, yesterday the allies endorsed the NATO 2030 document, which “has had Spain’s support from the beginning” and which includes nine priorities: increasing political consultations and coordination among allies, strengthening deterrence and defense, improving resilience, preserving the technological advantage, improving cooperation with partners in training and capacity building, fighting climate change, renewing the strategic concept and allocating resources to carry out these issues. “We need more multilateralism,” Pedro Sánchez stated in relation to the document. “A more political, militarily stronger and more global Alliance is better able to face the new challenges facing our societies, such as the fight against COVID-19,” he added.
Another outcome of the Summit was a Joint Declaration that stresses NATO’s defensive role as an essential forum for consultations and security decisions among the Allies, and pledges to “continue fighting for peace, security and stability throughout the Euro-Atlantic area,” according to Moncloa. During the meeting, the heads of state and government also discussed relations with Russia and China and the withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan, where NATO maintains a civilian presence. The 24 troops that Spain had deployed there returned to our country last May.
