Pentagon Does Not Invite Britain, France or Baltic States to NATO Future Talks

The United States plans to hold a meeting in Poland on the future of NATO without the participation of several European allies, including the United Kingdom, France, and the Baltic states.

Politico reports this, citing six diplomats familiar with the planning of the meeting.

The meeting is being organized by the Pentagon, with the initiative being pushed by Elbridge Colby, the U.S. Defense Department’s top policy official.

The meeting is expected to focus on the future of NATO and possible changes to how the alliance operates.

Norway, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Germany, and the Netherlands have been invited to the meeting.

Meanwhile, the lack of invitations for the United Kingdom, France, and the Baltic states has raised questions among diplomats.

These countries have significant defense budgets and play an important role in NATO. One representative of an uninvited country said that his government was trying to understand the criteria used to select participants for the meeting.

The emergence of this format comes amid demands from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration for allies to increase defense spending and support U.S. policy.

In June, following the first meeting in Bergen, Colby said that the format included allies that were quickly implementing agreements on defense spending, had sufficient military capabilities, and were ready to move on to practical work.

In June 2025, NATO countries agreed to increase defense spending and security-related expenditures to 5% of GDP by 2035.

Of this, at least 3.5% is to be allocated directly to defense needs, while up to 1.5% will be spent on infrastructure, cybersecurity, civilian resilience, and other related areas.

Militarnyi previously reported that Finnish Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen called on NATO member states to increase defense spending.