NATO will adopt its new strategic concept at this week’s Madrid summit, in what will be the most relevant update in recent decades, given that it takes place in a new geopolitical scenario marked by Russian military aggression against Ukraine.
The strategic concept is a key document of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), since it defines the security challenges facing the organization and outlines the political and military priorities to be developed to face them.
Updated normally every 10 years from the end of the Cold War, to take into account changes in the global security environment and ensure that the Alliance is prepared for the future, NATO’s strategic concept was reviewed and adopted for the last time in 2010, curiously at a summit held in Lisbon. Twelve years later, in Madrid, the Allies will approve the new strategic “roadmap”, in a very different context.
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In 2010 there was a rapprochement between NATO and Russia, and the then Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev, was present in Lisbon, invited by the Alliance. This week, the Madrid summit takes place in a context of great tension and with an ongoing war in Europe, in which NATO member countries are providing Ukraine with military material to fight against the Russian invasion, while the organization reinforces its eastern flank.
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The reinforcement of NATO’s eastern flank will undoubtedly be one of the objectives set out in the strategic plan for the next 10 years, and has been called for by nine member countries that met this month in Bucharest, namely Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary , Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia, which ask “a reinforcement of the deterrence and defense posture” of the organization against the “Russian threat”.
With much of the attention now focused on the eastern flank, and it being very likely that, unlike in 2010, China will also now be mentioned in the document, including due to Beijing’s expressed support for Moscow in the context of the current conflict, There will also be references to the need for the Atlantic Alliance not to neglect the southern flank.
Terrorism, the impact of climate change on security and the armed forces, nuclear deterrence and the control and non-proliferation of weapons are other points that should be included in the document, which should also advocate alliances with democratic allies in Europe and Asia , in the new geopolitical context triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
“The strategic concept of Madrid will reflect the new security environment and will reaffirm our commitment to our values and our unityensuring that our Alliance is fit for the future”, recently declared the Secretary General of NATO, the Norwegian, Jens Stoltenberg, whom the Heads of State and Government of the Alliance requested at the previous summit, held in Brussels last year , move forward with updating the guidance document.
The adoption of NATO’s new strategic concept comes shortly after the European Union (EU) adopted, last March, its “Strategic Compass”, a document that also outlines the security and defense policy of the European bloc for the next decade, which already hardens the language. towards Russia.
Countries like France want the EU’s “strategic compass” to be integrated into the Alliance’s new “strategic concept”, not least because the strategic partnership between the two organizations “is stronger and more relevant than ever at this critical moment for Euro-Atlantic security”as pointed out in the seventh progress report on EU-NATO cooperation, published last week.
In a restricted meeting held on June 14 in The Hague (Netherlands) between leaders of some of the organization’s countries, in preparation for the Madrid summit, the President of the Government, António Costa, underlined the importance of this meeting week.
“The Madrid Summit is important for us to approve the new NATO Strategic Concept for the next 10 years, the investment plan to strengthen NATO in the next 10 years, which are the central issues,” he said, also highlighting the strengthening of NATO unity. Alliance, pointing out that “very big steps have been taken since the 2020 US elections”, which dictated the appointment of the current US president, Democrat Joe Biden, and the departure of Republican Donald Trump from the White House.
Recalling that at the last NATO summit, in Brussels last year, “there was still the idea that the United States would turn more towards the Indo-Pacific”, Costa pointed out that, “at this moment in which unity” of the organization, there was a block reaction, with a “reinforcement of NATO’s eastern flank, without forgetting maritime security and the southern flank”.
Source: Observadora
