Before the NATO summit - NATO fails to reach agreement on multi-year aid for Ukraine
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg failed in his attempt to secure long-term military aid commitments from NATO countries worth at least 40 billion Euros annually for Ukraine. According to the German Press Agency, the allies could only agree in the lead-up to a summit in Washington to provide support in the amount of at least 40 billion Euros within the next year.
A concrete agreement on who would contribute what could not be reached, according to reports. The NATO countries have therefore only vaguely committed to the fact that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) should play a role.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg had initially urged the allies to guarantee Ukraine long-term military aid in the amount of at least 40 billion Euros per year. This also aimed to show Russian President Vladimir Putin that he would not win his aggression war against Ukraine, Stoltenberg said at the end of May at a meeting with the foreign ministers of the 32 NATO countries in Prague. The 40 billion Euros would roughly correspond to the annual support the allies have provided since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
Regarding how a fair burden sharing could be ensured, Stoltenberg said at the time that one option could be to calculate the contribution of each individual member state based on their Gross Domestic Product. Accordingly, the United States, Germany, Britain, France, and Italy would have to pay the largest share of the annual 40 billion Euros.
Stoltenberg's wish was that the 32 NATO countries would reach a common position on this before the summit in Washington in the coming week. An agreement on a very ambitious pledge, however, had already been considered unlikely from the outset - among other things, because countries like France and Italy have so far only contributed a relatively small percentage of their Gross Domestic Product for military support to Ukraine.
- Despite Jens Stoltenberg's efforts at the NATO summit in Brussels, the long-term military aid commitment of at least 40 billion Euros annually for Ukraine remained unsecured.
- The German Press Agency reported that NATO allies could only agree to provide support worth at least 40 billion Euros within the next year, leading up to the NATO summit in Washington.
- At a previous meeting in Prague with the foreign ministers of the 32 NATO countries, Stoltenberg urged allies to guarantee Ukraine long-term military aid worth at least 40 billion Euros annually to challenge Russian President Vladimir Putin.
- The potential burden sharing for the annual 40 billion Euros commitment was suggested by Stoltenberg, which could be calculated based on each member state's Gross Domestic Product, with the US, Germany, UK, France, and Italy shouldering the largest share.
- An agreement on a common position regarding the annual 40 billion Euros commitment became increasingly unlikely before the NATO summit in Washington due to opposition from countries such as France and Italy, which have contributed only a small percentage of their GDP for military support to Ukraine.
- The lack of concrete commitments from NATO countries regarding military aid for Ukraine has raised concerns in countries like the Czech Republic, as they perceive increased Russian aggression as a potential threat.
