As the United States shifts its strategic focus from Europe to the Indo-Pacific and the Western Hemisphere, not only do transatlantic relations suffer from a change of rationale, but also NATO. When NATO was created, its main purpose was famously summarised by its first Secretary General, Lord Ismay, in the catchy phrase, ‘to keep the Soviet Union out, the Americans in, and the Germans down’. This encapsulated the Cold War logic: deterring the Soviet Union from attacking, anchoring US strategic interests in Europe and avoiding a return to power politics on the continent.

Nowadays, however, this formula no longer works. Russia has returned as the main military threat to European security, with its large-scale aggressive war on Ukraine and continued hybrid attacks on European countries. The multilateral rules-based order is under threat internationally from a return to great power politics that affect the security of Europe. Although the US is still an essential part of NATO, it is no longer willing to take on the majority of Europe’s conventional defence. Meanwhile, the European Union, once marginal to hard security issues, is becoming a central player in Europe’s future defence.

As such, the new raison d’être for the Alliance should therefore be: to keep the Americans in, the Russians out and the EU up. This is also the essence of NATO 3.0: ‘A stronger Europe in a stronger NATO’.

And the NATO Ankara Summit marks the beginning of this internal transformation. As set out in the Summit’s declaration, a modernised Alliance based on a stronger European pillar will be less dependent on the United States, while Washington will retain a substantial foothold in NATO.