NATO puts Albania summit on hold as alliance faces growing divisions

详细摘要

The military alliance is also reducing ministerial gatherings amid disputes over defence spending, the war in Ukraine and US President Donald Trump’s demands on allies.

NATO is scaling back its high-level meetings and will not hold a leaders’ summit in Albania in 2027 as originally planned, reflecting mounting tensions within the alliance over defence spending, the war in Ukraine and the conflict involving Iran.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said Thursday that there was no agreement on when the next summit would take place, ruling out a meeting in 2027 and suggesting Tirana could host one in 2028.

“There is not yet a common position on when the summit will happen, for sure not in 2027,” Rama said.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte played down the delay, saying the alliance could arrange summits whenever necessary.

“We are flexible with NATO summits,” he told The Associated Press. “We have summits when we need them.”

The changes extend beyond leaders’ gatherings. NATO defence ministers, who traditionally meet in October, held no meeting last month, and none is planned for October 2027.

Foreign ministers will also have only one scheduled meeting next year, rather than the usual two, under what the alliance calls a “reorganisation package”.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have each skipped a NATO meeting or left before discussions concluded since taking office. Hegseth has also used ministerial gatherings to criticise European allies and Canada over defence spending.

Albania was named as the planned host for the 2027 summit in 2025, but its name was later omitted from a declaration issued at a NATO meeting in July.

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