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NATO chief invited to address US Congress amid tensions
WASHINGTON, March 12, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on
Monday extended a rare invitation to the head of NATO to address a joint
meeting of Congress in early April to mark the alliance’s 70th anniversary.
“During this critical time for the United States, NATO and the European
Union, the US Congress and the American people look forward to your message
of friendship and partnership, as we work together to strengthen our critical
alliance and advance a future of peace around the world,” Pelosi wrote the
29-member organization’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg.
The top Democrat said the invitation was made on behalf of Democrats and
Republicans in Congress.
Washington is scheduled to host a NATO ministerial meeting on April 3 and
4.
The invitation comes amid trans-Atlantic tensions. Trump has been
unstinting in his criticism of NATO’s European members, accusing them of
freeloading on the protection offered by the US military while not spending
enough on their own armed forces.
A NATO summit last July jangled nerves when Trump reportedly threatened to
“go it alone” unless allies boosted their spending.
Before taking office Trump called NATO “obsolete” and soon after July’s
summit he questioned whether the US would honor the alliance’s founding
principle of mutual defence for newest member Montenegro.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0939 hrs