President Joe Biden entered last week’s NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, with some clear objectives. He emerged successful. In the process, Biden solidified his international image and leadership bona fides and delivered results that were largely embraced back home.
Biden went into the summit with two goals: He wanted to maintain active, war-weary Western support for Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia, and he wanted to lock down elusive Turkish support for Sweden’s application for NATO membership. Each of those goals had its challenges.
On continuing support for the Ukraine war effort, Biden needed to find a balance between differing NATO member views regarding the war and its continuing drain on resources. He also had to temper the hard-hitting pitch of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for expanded financial and enhanced military aid.
And, of course, there was Zelensky’s plea for NATO membership and the protective shield it would create. On Sweden’s NATO membership issue, Biden’s challenge was the expanding list of objections raised by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey’s agreement is needed to satisfy NATO’s unanimous member consent requirement for the acceptance of new members.
In addressing those issues, Biden needed to tread lightly. Both his Ukraine and Sweden objectives were driven by concerns about Russia and its military ambitions. Biden needed to pursue those Russia-focused efforts without further provoking an already weakened but nuclear-armed and short-tempered Russian President Vladimir Putin. Despite those challenges, Biden was able to help navigate impressive results.
First, the summit ended on July 12 with a joint declaration from NATO’s G7 leaders committing to negotiate and enter long-term security commitments with Ukraine to help Ukraine deter future Russian attacks. The joint pledge gave Ukraine a greater degree of assurance than any previous allied commitment, even if it didn’t deliver the prize of NATO membership or a timetable for membership that Zelensky so forcefully sought. Biden had a hand in orchestrating that result.
Second, just hours before the NATO summit began, and following a meeting with Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg made the surprise announcement that Erdogan had dropped his months of opposition and agreed to support the admission of Sweden to NATO. The forthcoming addition of Sweden and the recent admission of neighboring Finland will add significant military credibility to the NATO alliance. Biden helped with the Swedish result through months of encouragement in dealings with Erdogan and Turkey.
Throughout the summit, Biden demonstrated his comfort with the world stage and his popularity with NATO leaders. He left the meeting after artfully navigating NATO member differences over Ukraine – particularly the desire of some Eastern European members to provide Ukraine a faster track to NATO membership.
The other winner at the summit was Zelensky. While he didn’t get everything he wanted and likely offended some NATO leaders with his relentless demands for more assistance and support, he left the summit declaring “a significant security victory” based on G7 support.
It was a successful summit for NATO and a feather in the cap of Joe Biden.
