Key European allies excluded from US-led NATO meeting in Poland

The Trump administration has not invited several key European allies to a meeting of NATO members scheduled for next month.

According to six diplomats who spoke to Politico, the meeting, to be held in Poland and spearheaded by Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby, essentially functions as a working group focused on the future of NATO.

However, many nations that did not receive invitations, such as the United Kingdom, France, and the Baltic states, are countries with high defence spending that play pivotal roles in the alliance.

This circumstance has led diplomats to wonder why they have been excluded.

These nations are questioning whether the White House is taking sides in a manner that could further fragment an alliance already grappling with “mounting Russian aggression and depleted weapons stockpiles”.

An official from one of the uninvited allied countries said: “We are doing everything asked of us. We are trying to understand what the criteria are and what the purpose of these meetings is. Little information has been conveyed to us so far.”

Politico reported last April that the White House had drawn up a sort of “naughty and nice” list of NATO countries, based on member states’ contributions to the alliance and their support for the US war in Iran.

The administration was considering reorganising military deployments, joint exercises, and arms procurement to reward countries deemed more loyal to Washington’s foreign policy stance.

Bloomberg reported on 14 August that the US had sent detailed questionnaires to NATO allies to gauge how closely aligned they were with Donald Trump’s agenda.

These questionnaires specifically assessed their support for US foreign policy and the continued use of US military bases.

Colby previously organised two meetings in the same format with Poland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Netherlands.

These talks have come to be known as the “Bergen Group”, and Denmark may also be added to the group.

A diplomat from one of the participating countries stated that this smaller format was designed not to divide NATO, but to develop proposals that could subsequently be evaluated by the entire alliance.

Colby likewise stated that the goal was “to pull the whole alliance in the same direction” and build a stronger NATO with a more robust European military capability.