The military alliance has agreed to increase its common funding budget to “up to EUR 6.5 billion” for the coming year and has approved its investment priorities for the next five years. By 2026, allies settled on a budget of €5.3 billion.
Countries have been negotiating for months on the overhaul of the alliance’s 10,000-kilometer Cold War-era pipeline network, intended to connect NATO’s current system in Western Europe to new alliance member nations in the east and north.
This initiative, described as NATO’s largest and most costly commonly funded project, could take up to 30 years to finish and includes numerous projects, such as pipeline upgrades and energy storage sites.
“A stronger NATO is in the pipeline,” remarked a diplomat.
NATO members previously disagreed over the considerable expenses of the deal, with some worrying it would commit them to fuel projects for decades, although they later withdrew their objections.
At this month’s leaders’ meeting in Ankara, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte commended the political agreement among allies regarding the overhaul. The “historic step” on the revamp “will modernize our existing fuel storage and distribution infrastructure,” he informed reporters.
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