NATO drops 2027 leaders' summit in Albania, citing spending rifts

No 2027 summit for Albania

AP reported on Sunday, 15 November, that NATO will not hold a leaders' summit in Albania in 2027. Tirana had been named as host under the 2025 Hague declaration, but its name disappeared from the declaration issued after the July meeting in Ankara. Asked before the European Political Community summit in Dublin on Thursday, 12 November, Prime Minister Edi Rama said there is no common position on timing and that a summit would certainly not take place in 2027. The European Political Community, promoted by Emmanuel Macron in 2022, brings together EU leaders and leaders of European countries outside the bloc. Rama also said that if a summit is held in 2028, it will take place in Tirana. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told AP the alliance is flexible about summits and holds them when they are needed, and recent summits were held in Washington in 2024, The Hague in 2025 and Ankara in 2026.

Fewer ministerial meetings

Defence ministers of the 32 members usually meet in October, but no such meeting took place this year and none is planned for October 2027. Foreign ministers will meet once next year instead of twice, a change NATO describes as a reorganization package. AP recalls that Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio have either missed a NATO meeting or left one before it ended. Hegseth used defence ministers' meetings to criticize European allies and Canada, AP reports.

Albania's spending draws objections

AP reports that some allies argue Tirana does not spend enough on defence, making them reluctant to see it host the alliance's most important event. Albania's defence spending is forecast at 2.15% of GDP this year. NATO's target for each of its 32 members is 3.5% of GDP on core defence capabilities and a further 1.5% on defence-related infrastructure by 2035. AP notes that Albania is not among the weakest performers, with Spain, Belgium and Slovenia doing worse. The chart below sets Albania's forecast against the two 2035 targets.

Albania, forecast this year2.15

NATO target, core capabilities by 20353.5

NATO target, infrastructure by 20351.5

Albania, forecast this year

2.15 % of GDP

NATO target, core capabilities by 2035

3.5 % of GDP

NATO target, infrastructure by 2035

1.5 % of GDP

Data from the article text

Planning time and the Trump factor

Preparing the 2025 Hague summit took the Netherlands about a year and cost close to 100 million dollars, so a decision on Albania would have to come by October to give the country time to prepare an event in 2027. La Vanguardia reports that some allied diplomats expect the alliance to avoid another summit overshadowed by tension between President Donald Trump and European allies, as happened in Turkey months ago. At the closing press conference in Ankara, Rutte said the next summit would be held in Albania and the exact date still had to be set. Ian Lesser, head of the Brussels office of the German Marshall Fund, attributed the success of the chaotic Ankara summit largely to the good relationship between Turkish President Recep T. Erdogan and Trump.

What remains open

NATO has not agreed on a date for its next leaders' summit, according to Rama. The 2027 option is ruled out, and 2028 is the only year for which Tirana has been named as a possible venue. With the October defence ministers' session missing this year and the foreign ministers meeting only once next year, the alliance has fewer formal occasions for allies to meet at ministerial level.