NATO is considering ending its recent practice of holding annual summits, as some members seek to reduce tensions and improve decision-making.
Reuters, citing multiple diplomatic sources, said the move could also help avoid a potentially difficult encounter with US President Donald Trump during his final years in office in its report on Tuesday, April 28.
While NATO leaders have met every summer since 2021, including a planned summit in Ankara on July 7-8 this year, some member states are now pushing to reduce the frequency of such gatherings.
One diplomat told Reuters that the 2027 summit, set to be held in Albania, could take place later in the year, while the alliance is also considering not holding a summit at all in 2028 – which coincides with the US presidential election.
Others have proposed holding summits every two years instead, though no final decision has been made. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte would ultimately decide on the matter.
Sources said some allies want to reduce the risk of political tensions overshadowing substantive discussions, with one diplomat noting it is “better to have fewer summits than bad summits.”
Trump has repeatedly criticized NATO allies for insufficient defense spending and, most recently, for not providing greater support to US military operations against Iran.
According to the report, his stance has contributed to concerns among some members, although broader considerations – including improving the quality of decision-making – are also driving the discussion.
Analysts have long argued that frequent high-level meetings can create pressure for headline-grabbing outcomes at the expense of long-term planning.
This year’s summit is also expected to be tense, following disagreements between Washington and its allies over US actions in Iran and Trump’s previous threats to reconsider US commitments to NATO’s collective defense principle.
Veteran Turkish diplomat Umit Yardim recently told Kyiv Post in an interview that the upcoming summit in Ankara is expected to refocus attention on Ukraine, alongside broader geopolitical challenges. According to Yardim, Kyiv will remain one of the alliance’s central topics, particularly amid discussions on a possible meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Turkey.
However, Ukraine will be part of a wider agenda that includes the Middle East crisis and questions over the United States’ role within NATO. Yardım noted that while Kyiv remains a key strategic focus for the alliance, the summit will take place in a significantly more complex global environment than previous NATO gatherings, with multiple competing security challenges.