A critical NATO summit is underway, and the central question on the table is whether Europe can fill the security gap left by a United States that is steadily pulling back from its traditional role in European defense, according to To Vima journalist Pierros Tzanetakos.
The shift is not symbolic. European nations are being pushed to take on a significantly larger share of their own defense burden and to build up their domestic defense industries to compensate for reduced American engagement. This is the defining pressure point of the summit, and it is reshaping how NATO members calculate their commitments.
On Turkey, the picture is complicated. How the West views Erdogan at this particular moment is one of the sharpest dividing lines inside the alliance, with his government occupying an uncomfortable but strategically irreplaceable position for both sides.
For Greece, the summit represents a real window. With Europe scrambling to assert itself militarily and diplomatically, Greece's geographic position and its existing defense investments give it more leverage than it has had at a NATO summit in years. The question is whether Athens chooses to use it.
The summit's outcomes are still forming, but the direction is clear. Europe is being handed responsibility it spent decades offloading to Washington, and every member state now has to decide how seriously it takes that.
#NATO #Greece #EuropeanDefense
A critical NATO summit is underway, and the central question on the table is whether Europe can fill the security gap le...
Written on 07/07/2026
theatlaswiregreece

