NATO plans a summit in September to consider its future. General Jean-Paul Paloméros, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, told The Globe that the biggest threat facing the alliance is the “massive reduction in defence budgets” of its members.

Liam Fox, a British MP and former secretary of state for defence, told the conference that 21 of 28 NATO countries this year would spend more of their GDP on “debt-interest repayments than defence.”

“This is what it is to have debt as a strategic issue,” he said. “We have to understand that our economic policy and our long-term security are interlinked.”

Image: Supreme Allied Commander Transformation Gen. Jean-Paul Paloméros (photo: NATO)