Every possible effort should be made “so that we can continue to defend the European security architecture”, Chancellor Olaf Solz asked during his meeting, yesterday Friday, with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who in turn praised Germany for “her major contribution to our common security”.

In their statements to the media, the two officials particularly emphasized the importance of the cohesion of the Alliance. The upcoming summit, July 9-11 in Washington, which will mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of NATO, “is a good opportunity to show our cohesion and send a strong message of unity,” said Mr. Soltz and he recalled that during the last summit in Vilnius the allies demonstrated unity and solidarity and announced bilateral cooperation with Ukraine, which has already been implemented. “The point now is to continue to do what is necessary,” the chancellor added.

The NATO Secretary General, for his part, welcomed Germany’s decision to strengthen its presence in Lithuania and to patrol the airspace in the Baltic, as well as the deployment of 12,000 Bundeswehr soldiers in the Steadfast Defender exercise, NATO’s largest since the end of the Cold War. He also praised the “historic and very important milestone decision” to increase defense spending and assured that “the fact that Germany is now investing 2% of its GDP in defense is of great importance to all allies.”

Mr Stoltenberg also thanked Mr Scholz for the decision to deploy a third Patriot system to Ukraine and called for “other allies to follow Germany’s example”. “The new contribution decisions should soon translate into arms deliveries,” the NATO chief said, referring to recent announcements by the US, Great Britain and the Netherlands.

In light of recent revelations of pro-Russian espionage in Germany and Britain, Jens Stoltenberg called for “greater vigilance” from allies about Russian covert activities in Europe. “NATO allies we stand in solidarity with Germany and Britain. “Such actions are dangerous and unacceptable, but they will not deter us from providing support to Ukraine, while we will very closely coordinate our response to any hostile act against NATO allies,” he said.

Earlier, Mr. Stoltenberg had met with members of the Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committees, and had an informal dinner with Foreign Minister Analena Burbock. The NATO Secretary General was honored with the “Eric M. Warburg” award of the “Atlantic Bridge” and visited an air base, where he flew a Eurofighter fighter jet.