: The 2022 NATO Summit Could Be the Most Important in Recent Decades. Here’s Why #WorldNEWS Western leaders will meet in the Spanish capital Madrid from Jun. 28 to Jun. 30 for what many are expecting

The 2022 NATO Summit Could Be the Most Important in Recent Decades. Here’s Why #WorldNEWS
Western leaders will meet in the Spanish capital Madrid from Jun. 28 to Jun. 30 for what many are expecting to be the most important summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in recent decades. Just months after the invasion of NATO ally Ukraine, the 30 member states of the intergovernmental military alliance are keen to demonstrate their unity against Russian aggression.
Leaders attending the two-day conference are expected to unveil a “transformative” approach to their security and defense strategy of the kind not seen since the Cold War, according to its Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. The summit will be focused on bolstering NATO’s military support in eastern Europe, reaffirm support for Ukraine, and the growing global influence of China. Analysts tell TIME that the summit could provide the opportunity for the E. U. to take the lead on expanding allied military presence in Europe, which historically has been driven by the U. S. , given the war in Ukraine.
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But there will be tricky issues to navigate—notably Turkey’s opposition to Finland and Sweden’s bids to join the alliance, and the need to balance defense spending with nations’ domestic budgets amid rising inflation and fears of recession.
Here, what to expect from the NATO summit:
What is the NATO summit and who will be attending?
The leaders of the 30 members of NATO meet at least once a year in a member state to coordinate defensive strategy, discuss new policy and the alliance’s response to security threats. As well as the U. S. and Canada, leaders from 28 European and Nordic member states, including the U. K. , Germany, and Denmark, will be in attendance.
NATO was set up in 1949 by North American, European, and Nordic states to pledge mutual military assistance in the event of an attack from the Soviet Union. It has since expanded its membership and its remit since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and has been involved in military operations—from peacekeeping to training and combat—in the Balkans, Africa, and the Middle East.
At this year’s summit in Madrid, world leaders from countries not currently members of NATO —including South Korea and Japan—along with Finland and Sweden, which have applied to join the alliance—will be in attendance as observers.
What about Finland and Sweden?
Less than three months after the invasion of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership on May 18. Russian aggression in a neighboring non-NATO state had an unprecedented effect on public sentiment in the two historically neutral countries—Finland shares a 830-mile border with Russia.