HCSS Insights from the NATO Summit in Washington D.C.

From 9–11 July, the 2024 NATO Summit took place in Washington D.C., bringing together the heads of state and heads of government of the 32 allies, their partner countries and the European Union.

HCSS is proud to have been an Institutional Partner of the NATO Public Forum taking place during the historic Summit, with Director of Research Tim Sweijs and Strategic Analyst Davis Ellison attending the Forum.

This year’s Public Forum was co-hosted by NATO with the United States Government, in collaboration with the Atlantic Council , the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), GLOBSEC, the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), and the Hudson Institute.

The Public Forum aimed to promote a better public understanding of NATO’s policies and goals and the decisions to be adopted at the Summit, through dialogue and engagement with a unique and diverse group of stakeholders, from heads of state and government and ministers, to international security experts, opinion leaders, academics and journalists, in a series of panel discussions, debates, and interactive sessions on various topics on NATO’s agenda.

“It was an honour to be part of the team representing HCSS as the institutional partner from the Netherlands,” Davis Ellison stated, looking back on the Forum. “Peace and security cannot be taken for granted, so it was inspiring to see so many allied leaders, all committed to adapting and strengthening the Alliance for a rapidly changing security environment, including the US Secretaries of State and Defence, the new UK Minister of Defence, representatives from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Slovakia, Lithuania and many more – and of course the new Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp.”

“This D.C. Summit came at a pivotal moment in the history of the alliance with large-scale conventional war raging on the European continent, while tensions in the Indo-Pacific are brewing,” HCSS Director of Research Tim Sweijs commented. “Transatlantic unity is more important now than ever before, in a turbulent time of global and regional power transitions that are already creating deterrence gaps.”

“There is quite a bit to unpack,” Ellison commented upon the publication of the Summit Communiqué. “The main points from the declaration were also the ‘talk of the town’ here at the Public Forum: a noticeable increase in the attention on China, and new institutional steps by NATO to build a ‘short bridge’ for Ukraine to join the alliance.”

“Held at a time of fundamental threats, the Summit was more than a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the alliance,” Tim Sweijs added. “In the present, very challenging and unstable security environment, the 32 allied leaders came together to discuss the future of the Transatlantic alliance, deterrence and defence of the Euro-Atlantic area, and how the Alliance should position itself with respect to developments in the Indo-Pacific.”

Continuing, Ellison notes that “NATO is clearly looking to do more things in more places. Research communities across the Atlantic have a lot on their hands in trying to understand what that means for global security, for European and U.S. politics, and for the over 1 billion people who live in the transatlantic world.”

“At HCSS, we’re looking forward to co-organising the Public Forum in The Hague next year,” Sweijs concluded.

Image source: NATO Public Forum, Photo by Kristina Shark | DC Headshots

2025 NATO Summit in The Hague

Next year,theNATO Summit will be held in The Netherlands, at the World Forum in The Hague from 24 to 26 June 2025. This is the first time a NATO Summit will be hosted in the Netherlands, one of the founding members of the alliance.

Approximately 45 heads of state and government, 45 foreign ministers, 45 defence ministers and about 6,000 delegates will come to the Netherlands for the summit meeting. About 2,000 journalists are also expected to join. A total of about 8,500 people are expected to attend.

At the same time as the summit, the NATO Public Forum will be held in The Hague as well. Led by HCSS, the Clingendael Institute, and the Atlantische Commisie, the Forum will convene global experts to discuss the priority agenda items for the Alliance, organise public and side discussions with policymakers, and work closely with Allies’ representations in The Hague to showcase the diverse contributions and views across the Alliance.

HCSS NATO Summits Series

To set the stage for the upcoming NATO summit in the Netherlands in 2025, the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS) will be organizing a series of events, spearheaded by HCSS Deputy Director Michel Rademaker and Strategic Analyst Davis Ellison.

Ellison joined HCSS in February of 2023, after serving at NATO Allied Command Transformation for over three years as a strategist. In his time at NATO he was a co-author of the NATO Warfighting Capstone Concept, was responsible for military development elements of Secretary General Stoltenberg’s NATO 2030 initiative, and worked across a wide array of military-strategic issues for the alliance.

Follow our social media accounts and our dedicated NATO Summits Series landing page for all upcoming events.