Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has said that NATO will not hold a summit in his country next year, despite earlier plans.
Back in June, it emerged that those plans were under threat because of the stance of the US administration and dissatisfaction among NATO members over Albania’s low level of defence spending, Reuters reports.
Speaking in Dublin ahead of a meeting of European leaders, Edi Rama noted that there is currently no common position on exactly when the summit will take place, but that it definitely will not be held in 2027. At the same time, he added that if the summit is organised in 2028, it will be in Tirana.
NATO’s leadership is considering abandoning the practice of holding annual summits. This decision could help avoid tense meetings with US President Donald Trump. However, diplomats suggest the Alliance could still decide to hold a summit in 2026 on an emergency basis, but not in Albania.
At the same time, a NATO representative said the next summit would still take place in Albania, though they have not yet made a final decision on the date.
- Last June, at the NATO summit in The Hague, leaders adopted a declaration stating that they expected the next meeting to be held in Turkey in 2026, with the summit after that planned for Albania.
- However, as early as July this year, during the summit in Ankara, leaders signed a document that contained only a general reference to a future meeting, without specifying the exact time and venue.
- At last year’s summit in The Hague, NATO countries agreed to radically increase defence spending—to 5% of GDP by 2035. At present, Albania spends only about 1.49% of GDP, which is well below even the old 2% benchmark.
- Albania is not the only country to come under criticism. Slovenia and the Czech Republic were also among the “laggards”. Although NATO’s 2025 report stated that both countries had reached the 2% mark, sources within the Alliance said the official figures did not reflect reality.