There’s not much light between NATO’s ongoing efforts to prod its members to increase their defense spending and the Trump administration’s recently released National Security Strategy, which envisions an American focus on the Western Hemisphere over other regions, Benedetta Berti, the secretary general of NATO’s parliamentary assembly, said Wednesday.
Her office serves as a link between NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, and the legislatures of NATO’s 32 member states. Ms. Berti, who has been in the position since October, was in Washington this week for NATO’s 25th Transatlantic Forum, a meeting between more than 100 European parliament members and Congress.
The meetings were focused on what actions NATO must take to implement the primary goal of the June 2025 Hague summit, where leaders committed to increasing their military spending to 5% of GD,P and enhancing defense industrial cooperation amid ongoing concerns about Russia and a shifting geopolitical landscape.
“There was a lot of consensus over the scale and scope of the challenges ahead,” Ms. Berti said during a discussion with the District-based Defense Writers Group.
She said the American lawmakers they spoke with strongly supported the NATO alliance and acknowledged that it plays a significant role in supporting U.S. national security interests.
“There was a recognition of the fact that NATO remains the most effective framework to ensure collective defense,” Ms. Berti said.
The White House published its National Security Strategy on Dec. 4. It marks a major shift in how Washington will deal with Europe with less focus on strategic competition against countries like China and Russia and more open to spheres of influence. Ms. Berti said it amounts to a call for action for Europe.
“There is a need for European countries to invest more in defense and to strengthen their entire industrial base,” she said. “The post Cold War peace dividend level of defense spending that we saw in Europe are simply not adequate to the current threat assessment that we have.”
Ms. Berti said she doesn’t see a contradiction between creating a stronger European core in NATO and the U.S. continuing to play a leading role in the North Atlantic alliance.
“Our American friends have been telling us for a long time that Europe needs to step up,” she said. “We’re seeing this in the numbers.”
The Trump administration’s peace plan for Ukraine says it should not be admitted into NATO. Ms. Berti said the alliance has an open-door policy, but acknowledged that there’s no consensus at this point for Ukraine to become its 33rd member.
Along with downplaying NATO expansion and calling for an end to U.S. military support, the National Security Strategy also challenges the current cultural direction of the European Union and urges a restoration of what it considers traditional identities. Ms. Berti declined to elaborate on that topic, but said NATO parliamentarians would likely have a range of opinions.
