In the wake of the two days of preparation for the summit in mid June 2022, Jens Stoltenberg reported that key areas to be addressed in the summit include "strengthened deterrence and defence; support for Ukraine and other partners at risk; a new NATO Strategic Concept; better burden-sharing and resourcing; and Finland and Sweden's historic applications for membership".
Venue and security The summit was held at Pavilions 9 and 10 of the
IFEMA fairgrounds. Over 25,000 police agents were deployed in the city.
2022 Strategic Concept NATO's strategic concept, the 10-year blueprint underpinning the alliance's security challenges in the evolving global landscape and outlining the NATO political and military tasks set to address them, was adopted at the summit, thereby replacing the strategic concept adopted at the
2010 Lisbon summit. The 2010 document makes mention of "peace in the Euro-Atlantic area" and "the threat of a conventional attack on NATO territory [being] low", showing the outdated nature of the previous strategic concept. The United States hopes the document will also have forceful language on
China. The strategic blueprint updated Russia's status (hitherto considered a "strategic partner") as the "most significant and direct threat to Allies' security and to peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area". Likewise, China was described in the document as a challenge to allies' "interests, security and values". the latter of which also met with Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Finnish and Swedish accession bids In the wake of the
Russian invasion of Ukraine and a subsequent tilt in the public opinion of
Finland and
Sweden, the prospect of both countries applying for NATO membership before the summit was raised. On 12 May,
Sauli Niinistö and
Sanna Marin, respectively the president and prime minister of Finland, issued a joint statement that "Finland must apply for NATO membership without delay". On 16 May,
Magdalena Andersson, prime minister of Sweden, announced that Sweden will apply for membership. Both countries submitted their NATO applications on 18 May, yet there was the looming prospect of a Turkish block to accession talks, reportedly over concerns related to Finnish and Swedish relations with the
YPG, which Turkey considers a Syrian branch of the
PKK. On 19 May, Finnish President Niinistö and Swedish Prime Minister Andersson announced that they were ready to address Turkey's security concerns and that they always condemned
terrorism. On 28 June, the first day of the summit, the Turkish delegation dropped their opposition to Finland and Sweden's NATO membership applications and signed a tripartite memorandum addressing Turkey's concerns regarding arms exports and the
Kurdish–Turkish conflict. As part of the agreement, Finland and Sweden will support Turkey's participation in
PESCO's
Military Mobility project. Finland and Sweden also affirmed that the
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is "a terrorist organization". On 29 June, NATO extended a formal invitation to Finland and Sweden to join the alliance. On 30 June, Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that Sweden had made a "promise" to extradite "73 terrorists" to Turkey. Swedish Prime Minister Andersson refused to deny Turkey's claim that Sweden had promised to deport
political refugees and opponents wanted by Erdoğan's government.
Regional defense Ahead of the summit, the
Bucharest Nine made a joint declaration on 10 June 2022, calling for
forward defense in NATO's eastern flank. The summit may also see the alliance expand the
NATO Response Force from 40,000 to "well over 300,000".
Kaja Kallas, the
prime minister of Estonia, hopes that NATO will increase its troop presence with a
division of 20,000 to 25,000 soldiers in each of the
Baltic states to defend the territory of each state against a potential Russian invasion. The Spanish government wants NATO to also consider regional security to the south, particularly concerning
migration from Africa,
Islamist groups in the
Sahel, and
Russian mercenaries operating in the region. On 29 June, the second day of the summit, United States President
Joe Biden announced that the US would establish a permanent military base in Poland that would serve as the headquarters of
V Corps and provide two additional
F-35 squadrons in the United Kingdom, another brigade in Romania, and
air defense systems in Italy and Germany. The White House also reported a 50% increase (4 to 6) in the number of s deployed in
Naval Station Rota. On 30 June, British Prime Minister,
Boris Johnson, announced the United Kingdom's defence spending would increase from 2.3% of GDP in 2022 to 2.5% of GDP in 2030. The UK will also provide 1000 additional troops and a
Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier to NATO's Eastern flank. == Protests ==