Trudeau to attend NATO meeting

Macron poses questions about future of alliance

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is to attend the NATO leaders meeting next week in the United Kingdom.

Trudeau’s office announced Thursday evening that while in London, he will meet with allies to mark the 70th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

During the meeting, Trudeau plans to reiterate Canada’s commitment to NATO and to trans-Atlantic security, as well as the importance of working together to modernize the alliance.

The meeting agenda calls for highlighting the alliance’s achievements in defence and deterrence.

Leaders are also to discuss the importance of maintaining unity and to address emerging and future threats.

Trudeau said that for 70 years, NATO has been a cornerstone of Canadian defence and security policy.

“I look forward to meet with NATO leaders, and to reaffirm Canada’s strong commitment to this alliance and its values,” Trudeau said in a statement.

“Whether by leading efforts to prevent and end conflict, or contributing to NATO’s work on women, peace and security, Canada is there for our allies as we build a more peaceful and stable world.”

The meeting is set for Dec. 3 and 4.

A founding member of the alliance, Canada is a major contributor to NATO.

Canada currently leads NATO’s enhanced Forward Presence battlegroup in Latvia, as well as the Standing NATO Maritime Group 2.

In Iraq, Canada commands the NATO mission to help the country.

In Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron said NATO leaders must stop bickering over defence spending and have a deep discussion about the future of the military alliance and how ties with Russia can be improved.

Macron’s call for intensive talks on how to shore up security in Europe, cope with volatile member Turkey and restore U.S. leadership came as NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Washington will pay less into the alliance’s budget from next year, with Germany filling the spending gap.

Ahead of a summit of NATO leaders in London next week, Macron held discussions with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Paris.

At a joint news conference, Macron posed a series of questions about NATO, an organization that he termed as “brain dead” just a few weeks ago, a charge that was criticized by others within the alliance.

“NATO is an organization of collective defence. Against what, against who is it defending itself? Who is our common enemy? What are our common topics? This question deserves clarifications.”

Macron said he was glad his recent comments have acted as a “wake-up call” and that it was “irresponsible” to just talk about financial and technical matters.

“A real alliance is action, decisions, not words. So, I want us to have a real dialogue among allies,” he insisted.

Macron complained that NATO’s two previous summits have focused almost exclusively on defence spending and “how to alleviate the financial cost for the United States.”

At the summit, Trump is expected to repeat his demand that European nations and Canada increase their defence spending. The U.S. spends more on defence than all other 28 allies combined.

In an announcement Thursday, Stoltenberg said the allies have agreed to reformulate NATO’s relatively small in-house budget and that Washington would now pay less.

NATO allies agreed last year to a 2019 civil budget for running things like the organization’s headquarters of $333 million Cdn. A further $1.86 billion was earmarked for spending on military missions around the world.