ANALYSIS NATO at 75: Time to Deliver on Its Promises

However, as a re- • A new secretary-general for the “community sult of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the ensu- o f values” ing change of times, or “Zeitenwende,” the German • An accession perspective for Ukraine government has set the course for meeting the two • The military adaptation of the Alliance percent target in the future. [...] While the Eastern European members, with the In any case, a further postponement of the Ukraine exception of Hungary, are in favor of swiftly inviting issue and a hollow compromise like the one reached Kiev to join, the US and Germany in particular re- in Vilnius in 2023 is unlikely to be possible given the main skeptical. [...] In 2020, the NATO Supreme Allied Commander developed a comprehen- Germany, on the other hand, was able for the first sive defense concept for the entire Euro-Atlantic area time to join the group of countries that will fulfil the (Concept for Deterrence and Defence of the Euro-At- two percent target in the future, with a special fund of lantic Area - DDA) for the first time in decades. [...] Possible conflicts include ently because it was offended by the AUCUS pact – the classic debate on burden-sharing within the Alli- prevented such an important political signal as the ance, the East-South divide, the question of what role establishment of a NATO liaison office in Japan at NATO should play in the face of the growing threat the Vilnius summit. [...] If the heads of state and government want to do justice to the seri- At the same time, the heads of state and government ousness of the situation and take decisive action, they must resist the urge to overload the summit with oth- will have to make far-reaching decisions in the areas er topics, because experience shows that every NATO mentioned.