Published on: June 25, 2025 / update from: June 25, 2025 - Author: Konrad Wolfenstein
Worth knowing about the NATO summit conclusion in the Hague: A historical meeting to strengthen western defense alliance-Image: Xpert.digital
Trump dominates NATO summit: European allies make far-reaching concessions
Superlative and compromise: The Haag marks costly new start of West defense
The NATO summit in the Hague on June 24th and 25th, 2025 marked a turning point in the history of the North Atlantic Alliance. For the first time since NATO was founded in 1949, the Netherlands acted as the host of a summit. The meeting took place in the World Forum in the Hague and brought together representatives of all 32 member states, including heads of state and government as well as minister of foreign and defense.
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Basis and preparation of the summit
Preparations for this summit have been going on in Vilnius since the decision at the NATO summit in Vilnius that the Netherlands would take over the host role. Mark Rutte, the new NATO Secretary General and former Dutch Prime Minister, led the alliance in his hometown. The city of the Hague, known as “City of Peace and Justice”, offered the symbolic framework for the important decisions of the alliance.
The meeting was deliberately limited to a short duration of just two and a half hours of working session-an unusually short format for a NATO summit. This decision was strategically to keep US President Donald Trump happy and to minimize the likelihood of undesirable surprises.
The central role of Donald Trump
The summit was tailored to the needs and wishes of US President Donald Trump. Trump received royal reception in advance: the Dutch royal couple Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima invited to a gala dinner in the castle, and Trump was the only foreign head of the state in the palace. This special treatment reflected the knowledge that Trump's support for the NATO support obligation was of crucial importance for the alliance.
NATO General Secretary Rutte went remarkably far in his efforts to make Trump. In a SMS sent in front of the summit, Rutte praised Trump's “determined action in Iran” and even took over Trump's characteristic writing style with capital letters. Trump later published this private message completely on his Truth Social platform, which illustrated the unusual dynamics of the relationship.
The historical decision on defense spending
The heart of the summit was the agreement on a drastic increase in defense spending. The 32 NATO member states undertook to spend five percent of their gross domestic product for defense and security annually by 2035 at the latest. This was a more than doubling the previous goal of two percent and meant the highest defense spending since the end of the Cold War.
The division was carried out according to a proposal by Secretary General Rutte: At least 3.5 percent of GDP should be used for “hard defense” - i.e. weapons, troops and classic military spending - while 1.5 percent for defense -relevant infrastructure such as tank -compatible bridges, expandable railway lines, extended ports, cyber security and stringing terrorism were planned.
For Germany, this obligation meant annual additional expenditure of 60 to 70 billion euros, which corresponds to about a quarter of the entire federal budget. Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced that Germany wanted to reach the 3.5 percent goal by 2029 and described the decision as “historical”.
Spain's special position and internal tensions
Not all member states were equally enthusiastic about the new spending obligations. Spain under Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was an exception: The country does not have to achieve the five percent goal as long as it can provide the required military skills even with a lower budget. This regulation caused displeasure, especially at Trump, who criticized Spain's behavior as “unfair” towards the other countries.
The Belgian leadership warned that such an interpretation could open the door to other countries to interpret the agreement according to its own discretion. These tensions made it clear that despite the official unity, there were significant differences in opinion on the practical implementation of the decisions.
The question of assistance - Donald Trump: "We are fully behind them"
One of the most critical moments of the summit created ambiguous statements about the NATO support obligation according to Article 5. Already on the flight to the Haag, Trump had answered the question of whether the USA was on Article 5: "This depends on the definition. There are many interpretations of Article 5". This statement triggered considerable concern among European allies.
During the official summit meeting, Trump corrected his position and explained: "We are fully behind them". In the final declaration, the heads of state and government confirmed their “unbreakable commitment to collective defense, as stated in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty- an attack on one is an attack on everyone”.
Nevertheless, the wording used in previous years was missing in this year's explanation that “every inch of the alliance area would be defended at any time”. This vertification was interpreted as a compromise to take Trump's concerns into account.
Ukraine in the shadow of the negotiations
In contrast to previous NATO peaks, Ukraine played a significantly subordinate role this time. President Wolodymyr Selenskyj was not on the official agenda of the summit, but was only invited to bilateral conversations. His meeting with Trump took about 50 minutes and was described by Selenskyj as “long and meaningful”.
In the final declaration, Ukraine was only mentioned with a vague sentence: "The Allies reaffirm their permanent sovereign obligations to support Ukraine, whose security contributes to our own". The word “confident” signaled that the Ukraine support was regarded as the matter of the individual member states and not as a NATO-wide obligation.
The role of Russia and regional threats
Russia was described as a direct threat to NATO in the final declaration, but received less attention than in previous summit declarations. Chancellor Merz urged in his press conference: "Please nobody dare to attack NATO, and at no point". He emphasized that Russia was not strong enough to attack NATO as a whole, but you do not know whether Moscow would test the willingness of the alliance one day.
The tightened threat situation by Russia's war of attack against Ukraine served as the main justification for the drastic increase in defense spending. At the same time, other threats such as Iran, China and North Korea were identified as challenges for transatlantic security.
Middle East crisis as a background factor
The summit took place against the background of an escalating crisis in the Middle East. Shortly before the meeting, a ceasefire mediated by Trump had come about between Israel and Iran after the United States bombed Iranian nuclear systems. However, these ceasefire proved to be fragile, and Trump was publicly frustrated about the continuing tensions between the two countries.
Chancellor Merz commented “reasonably confident” about the situation in the Middle East, but warned of a possible escalation with a blockade of the strategically important street from Hormus. The Middle East crisis illustrated the global dimensions of the security challenges with which NATO was faced with.
The leadership role of European heads of state
In addition to Trump, the European heads of state and government also played important roles at the summit. Chancellor Merz saw Germany in a “certain leadership role” within NATO after the decision. He emphasized that without Germany's willingness as the second largest contribution payer to suspend the debt brake, the agreement might not have been concluded.
French President Emmanuel Macron emphasized the need for Europe to take on more responsibility for its own security and invest more in common defense structures. This requirement for European personal responsibility was also a long -term concern of the American side.
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Operative challenges and security measures
The implementation of the summit was one of the greatest security operations in Dutch history. Under the code name “Orange Shield”, around 5,000 police officers were deployed - about half of all police officers in the country - and more than 10,000 soldiers. A total of around 9,000 visitors were expected, including 2,000 journalists.
The tight schedule and the high security requirements reflected the meaning that was attached to the meeting. The summit not only had to deliver content -related results, but also demonstrate the unity and ability to act.
Long -term effects and evaluation
NATO Secretary General Rutte rated the results of the summit as pioneering for the future of the alliance. He described the decisions as a “quantum leap” and emphasized that they made NATO a “fairer alliance” in which Europe and Canada take over a greater proportion of responsibility for joint security.
At the same time, Rutte warned that the work started with the summit. "This is day one," he said and asked all the Allies, "to roll up the sleeves to put this new plan into practice". The implementation of the ambitious output destinations will be the real test for the alliance in the coming years.
A summit of superlatives and compromises
The NATO summit in the Haag will go down in the annals of the alliance as a historical event. The doubling of defense spending to five percent of gross domestic product was an unprecedented financial obligation that marked the end of the “peace dividend” after the Cold War.
At the same time, the summit revealed the complex dynamics of power within NATO. Trump's dominant role and the willingness of the European allies to make far -reaching concessions to ensure his support illustrated the dependence of the alliance on American leadership.
The successful agreement on the issuing destinations initially prevented NATO's drifted drifting apart after Trump's election victory. However, whether this unit will be permanent depends on the practical implementation of the resolutions and the further development of the international security situation. The summit of Den Haag thus marked both a highlight of transatlantic cooperation and the beginning of a new, costly phase of western defense policy.
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