- EURASIAREVIEW.COM - A la une - 21/Jun 22:59

Italian Defence Minister Questions Relevance Of NATO

By Bryn Stole and Nicoletta Ionta (EurActiv) -- Italy's defence minister said on Friday that the NATO alliance has lost its relevance in a world no longer dominated by Europe and the United States. “For two years I have been explaining to NATO that NATO no longer has any reason to exist," Guido Crosetto said during a speech at the University of Padua, according to the ANSA news agency. Crosetto's remarks come just days before NATO leaders are due to gather in The Hague, where they are expected to commit to far higher defence spending, largely justified by the threat posed by Russian aggression. Many European leaders have argued that the alliance has regained focus and a clear sense of purpose since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. A few years earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron sparked controversy by declaring "the brain death of NATO", as members of the alliance pursued divergent interests in the Middle East. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is among the NATO leaders expected to support higher military spending commitments next week to strengthen the alliance. But Crosetto argued on Friday that shifting geopolitics in recent decades have eroded NATO’s original purpose. “The centre of the world is no longer the US and the EU,” he said, adding that NATO must adapt to the new geopolitical landscape if it is to maintain its function and preserve its “reason for existence”.“If NATO was born to guarantee peace and mutual defence, then it must either become an organisation that undertakes this role at a global level – engaging with the Global South, from Brazil to India (...) or else we will fail to achieve the goal we all share: building a security framework in which everyone can participate under rules that apply equally to all.”