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NATO 20/2020

February 3, 2021

Open a bank: NATO 20/2020 podcast

By Transatlantic Security Initative

 NATO can fund critical defense investments by bringing the necessary financial tools in house. 

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About this episode

NATO has a critical capability gap that is hindering its ability to guarantee the security of its member states: its inability to finance defense. If nothing is done, this gap will only grow in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Paying for military forces and deployments has traditionally been the responsibility of individual member states, with NATO ensuring those forces are able to fight together as one. But an alliance built on collective defense must do more than just come to the defense of its members. It must also, as Article 2 of the Washington Treaty holds, “encourage economic collaboration.” As such, NATO should create its own bank.

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Key Takeaways

  • 2:05: Max talks about how the idea of NATO having a bank will work
  • 3:50: Siena adds why she thinks it’s a good idea
  • 4:50: Max explains why NATO having its own bank will be more convenient for its allies than the allies depending on national banks
  • 15:32: Max also talks about what the management of a NATO bank would look like, how it would lend money, and how it would decide which states get to borrow from it
  • 19:28: Siena and Max confront how governments would pay into the NATO bank despite having trouble keeping their defense spending up
  • 24:48: Max talks about how NATO having a bank could be a tool that could be adapted to help finance NATO priorities like military mobility
  • 26:45: Max discusses how most of the needs that the NATO bank could meet are EU priorities, and then explains how these connect and become NATO’s responsibilities too
  • 30:38: Max talks about the EU-NATO the rivalry and how the NATO bank could help these two organizations to work together
  • 37:13: Max talks about the reaction of NATO to their article

Read the essay

NATO 20/2020

Oct 14, 2020

Open a bank

By Max Bergmann and Siena Cicarelli

NATO can fund critical defense investments by bringing the necessary financial tools in house.

Economy & Business Europe & Eurasia

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The Transatlantic Security Initiative, in the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, shapes and influences the debate on the greatest security challenges facing the North Atlantic Alliance and its key partners.