Takeaways from the 2022 NATO Summit in Madrid

On June 28 – June 30, 2022, a historic meeting of the leaders of NATO member states took place in Madrid, Spain. At the invitation of the Allied leaders, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky also attended the event via video conference.

The event was also attended by leaders of NATO’s key Indo-Pacific partners Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea – for the first time in the Alliance’s history.

During the Summit, NATO leaders agreed on a fundamental shift in the Alliance’s deterrence and defense, with strengthened forward defenses, enhanced battlegroups in the eastern part of NATO, and an increase in the number of high readiness forces. Leaders also agreed to invest more in NATO and to increase common funding.

Here are some fundamental decisions, adopted at the Summit:

• The leaders endorsed a new NATO Strategic Concept, the blueprint for the Alliance in a more dangerous and competitive world. It gives NATO a renewed purpose for the 21st century and sets out the bloc’s approach to global threats that include authoritarian actors trying to challenge interests, values and& democracy, as well as terrorism, cyber- and hybrid-wars. The document names Russia “the most significant and direct threat to Euro-Atlantic security” and, for the first time, addresses the challenges posed by China.

• NATO’s closest partners, Finland and Sweden, were invited to join the Alliance, which will significantly boost Euro-Atlantic security and demonstrate the bloc’s unity and resolve in the face of Russian aggression. Now the length of the land border between Russia and NATO will more than double and the Baltic Sea will turn into an “NATO’s inner sea”. The Alliance has also activated a new accession procedure, which may later be helpful for Ukraine.

• Allies further agreed on long-term support for Ukraine through a strengthened Comprehensive Assistance Package, which will include financial support and assistance for Ukraine’s transition from a Soviet equipped and supported military, to NATO standards. The Allies have also reaffirmed NATO’s ‘“Open Door Policy’”.

• The Allies agreed to deepen relationships with the Alliance’s closest partners in the Indo-Pacific as a strategic response to deepening partnership between Moscow and Beijing.

• A new NATO Innovation Fund to help the Alliance sharpen its technological edge was also launched at the Summit.

At his closing press conference, the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said: “We face the most serious security situation in decades. But we are rising to the challenge with unity and resolve.”

The next NATO Summit will be held next year in Vilnius, Lithuania.

The Ukrainian World Congress continues advocating for Ukraine’s full membership in NATO and for the uninterrupted flow of weapons from Ukraine’s Allies to its Defenders fighting Russian occupiers in the battlefield and on city streets. We thank the Allies for their continued strong and steadfast support of Ukraine!