Transatlantic Test: Towards and After the 2024 NATO Washington Summit

The 2024 Washington Summit comes at a crucial time for NATO. Positive momentum has been generated by NATO’s Strategic Concept and the Madrid and Vilnius Summits. Undoubtedly, NATO has taken a bold and decisive step towards its core tasks of deterrence and collective defence. However, in addition to celebrating 75 years of NATO, the Washington Summit will need to grapple with major challenges such as the adequate resourcing of the Regional Plans that were approved in Vilnius and the continuation of vital military and financial support for Ukraine in its defence against Russian military aggression. Furthermore, in addition to crises in the Middle East and China’s rise in the Indo-Pacific, NATO Allies need to reflect on what more can be done to effectively manage burden-sharing, develop capabilities and build-up the defence industry across the Alliance.

With potential political turbulence that could emerge within the Alliance in the coming year, the Washington Summit is an ideal moment to ensure the future cohesion and strength of the Alliance. To inform the forthcoming Summit, on 26 April 2024 the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy (CSDS) and the Egmont – Royal Institute for International Relations organised a public event in Brussels to reflect on the Washington Summit and 75 years of NATO. Looking ahead to the Washington Summit, the organisers sought to address the following sets of questions:

• How has burden-sharing in the Alliance evolved since Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine? In the context of shifts in the United States’ strategy, how can European Allies ensure that burden-sharing is put on a robust and long-term footing after the Washington Summit?
• What are the defence-industrial challenges facing the Alliance today and how can they be resolved? How should defence industries across the transatlantic adapt to the return of high intensity warfare? What support can NATO offer Allies in this regard?

The event was extremely well-attended and includes speakers from academia, industry and NATO including Javier Colomina, Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy, NATO and Jörg See, Deputy Assistant Secretary-General for Defence Policy and Planning, NATO.

Transatlantic Test – Programme

Transatlantic Test – Event Report