Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, will participate, on Tuesday and Wednesday, in the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. He will reiterate his support for Ukraine, including in relation to Ukraine’s accession to the Alliance, as well as for the most vulnerable partners, especially the Republic of Moldova. Ukraine is, actually, the main topic on the agenda of the meeting in Vilnius. The alliance will offer additional commitments, both at political and practical levels. Also, the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that he expected most of the allies to announce a commitment to increase defense budgets to over 2% of the GDP starting in 2024. Already 11 member states have fulfilled the commitment this year, including Romania. (….) On Monday, the Turkish leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan conditioned Sweden’s entry into NATO on the reopening of negotiations for Turkey’s accession to the EU. He continues to criticize Sweden for its alleged leniency towards the Kurdish militants who have taken refuge on its territory. Turkey is the last NATO country, along with Hungary, to oppose Sweden’s accession, despite measures taken by the Scandinavian country, including a reform of its Constitution and the adoption of a new anti-terrorism law. Also on Monday, the US President, Joe Biden, paid a short visit to London before arriving in Vilnius. The American leader met with King Charles III and the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
