NATO will not hold its planned leaders’ summit in Albania in 2027, with Prime Minister Edi Rama saying there is no agreement on when the next gathering will take place. He suggested 2028 as a possible alternativ
The alliance is also reducing ministerial meetings, with no defence ministers’ meeting scheduled for October 2027 and just one foreign ministers’ meeting planned for the year
The changes come amid tensions over defence spending, the conflict involving Iran and the war in Ukraine, while Albania’s hosting plans have also faced questions over its military spending
NATO will not hold its planned leaders' summit in Albania in 2027, as the alliance scales back its high-level meetings amid disagreements over defence spending, the Iran conflict and the war in Ukraine. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Thursday, that member states had not reached a common agreement on the timing of the next summit, ruling out next year.
Rama said Tirana could host the gathering in 2028, although that date has not been confirmed. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told AP that the alliance remained flexible about when it held leaders' meetings, adding that summits would be convened when necessary.
The decision marks a departure from the plan agreed at the 2025 NATO summit in The Hague, where Albania was designated as the next host. Rutte had reaffirmed the arrangement after the alliance's Ankara summit in July 2026, although the exact date was still to be decided.
Ministerial Meetings Also Cut Back
The change is part of a wider reduction in NATO's high-level engagements. The alliance held no defence ministers' meeting in October 2026 and has no such gathering scheduled for October 2027. Foreign ministers are also scheduled to meet only once next year, instead of the usual two meetings.
NATO has described the changes as part of a reorganisation of its meeting schedule. The move comes amid strains within the alliance over burden-sharing, military support for Ukraine and differing positions on the conflict involving Iran. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have also skipped or left early from some NATO meetings since joining the administration, according to AP.
Albania's Hosting Plans In Limbo
The postponement leaves Albania's preparations for the summit without a confirmed date. In December 2025, the government established a task force to coordinate security, infrastructure, logistics and expenditure for the event. The country had been preparing to host leaders from NATO's 32 member states and partner countries.
Hosting a summit involves extensive security arrangements and significant logistical costs. Rutte acknowledged the scale of the exercise but said such gatherings remained important when the alliance needed collective decisions.
Under NATO's approach, leaders' summits do not follow a fixed annual schedule and are held when significant decisions or developments require them. For now, Albania remains the designated future host, but the alliance has not announced when the next summit will take place.
