Albania pitches flexible NATO summit as allies sour on 2027 meeting

TIRANA — Albania is ready to host NATO leaders at a delayed summit or even online, as alliance diplomats say a gathering in the country next year remains unlikely.

Defense Minister Ermal Nufi told POLITICO in an interview that the government had ordered a working group to begin preparations.

“The next summit will … take place in Tirana,” Nufi said, acknowledging that NATO leaders would decide the timing.

When asked whether Albania is ready to host in 2027, delay the summit until 2028 or even hold it virtually, he said: "It is of no matter."

“A summit can happen even online,” he added.

But leaders are reluctant to commit due to Albania’s low defense spending, rising costs and an increasingly strained relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Reflecting that opposition, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama on Thursday ruled out hosting a summit next year, but insisted the next gathering would be in Tirana. “There is not yet a common position on when the summit will happen — for sure not in 2027 — and in ’28 if it will be a summit, it will be in Tirana,” he told reporters in Dublin, where he is attending a meeting of the European Political Community.

NATO summits bring together the leaders of the alliance’s 32 member countries to discuss shared security priorities and agree on major decisions. Since 2016, they have taken place annually in various cities across the alliance.

NATO leaders agreed in 2025 that Albania would host the 2027 summit. However, they did not explicitly re-endorse its bid at the Ankara summit this July. At a post-summit press conference, Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the next summit would be in Albania but added the “exact timing” was undecided. After a meeting with Rama in Brussels last week, Rama’s office said Rutte had “reaffirmed Tirana as the host city.”

A NATO official speaking on behalf of the organization said: “The next NATO Summit will be held in Albania, and a decision about when has yet to be taken.”

For now a summit next year remains unlikely, according to three NATO diplomats, all of whom were granted anonymity to speak freely, arguing that allies had not yet formally restarted discussions on a 2027 gathering.

Albania’s low defense spending relative to other allies, a need to focus on implementing existing defense spending pledges, geopolitical uncertainty, the high cost of holding a summit and the risk that a gathering could hand U.S. President Donald Trump a fresh opportunity to attack the alliance are among the key reasons behind the skepticism, they said.

“It is too early to tell,” said one of NATO diplomats. “Developments will dictate the direction of action,” they added, citing the effects of the U.S. midterm elections on Trump’s foreign policy, the war in Ukraine and “Russian aggression” in Europe.

Nufi said Albania would this year exceed NATO’s baseline target of 2% of GDP for defense spending. “We are going to be, this year, on 2.2% core defense spending,” he said. However, Albanian lawmakers must still approve the government’s budget proposal. “Defense cannot be considered marginal and peace cannot be taken for granted,” he added.

While Tirana is yet to finalize its priorities for the summit, Nufi said one focus could be formalizing a “unified strategy on air defense,” as Europe faces proliferating aerial threats from stray missiles and drones linked to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

 “We see the impact of drones and we see the impacts of missiles,” he said. “An increase in [focus] on common defense and mostly on air defense is greatly needed.” Allies in July agreed to upgrade their operational air defense plans, including giving NATO commanders more leeway in engaging aircraft for air defense equipment missions.

Nufi argued the summit also has symbolic value for Albania. 

“Albania was a communist country for 45 years — all of its defense was made to counteract NATO,” he said. “Now, we see the transformation of Albania … with the accession to NATO,” he said. “That is sending a message.”

This article was updated on Nov. 12 to include a comment from Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.