Former Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has called for an anti-NATO meeting in The Hague just one day before a summit of alliance leaders, Politico reports.
According to a letter obtained by Politico, Conte, who currently leads Italy’s Five Star Movement, plans to invite European politicians who oppose the arms race to the Dutch parliament. The participants will be hosted by the Dutch Socialist Party.
In the open letter, Conte writes that he calls on
all European politicians who are against the reckless arms race and welcomes those who believe in peace and dialogue between nations.
The only major European party to have confirmed its participation in the meeting hosted by Conte is Spain’s Sumar, which is in the Spanish government’s coalition. Meanwhile, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will attend the NATO summit.
The NATO summit in The Hague is expected to approve a new level of defense spending, which will reach 5% of GDP. Of this, 3.5% is intended for armaments, while 1.5% is intended for related expenses, such as infrastructure, promoting cybersecurity and the like.
Conte stressed that such changes are unacceptable, and it is obvious that without serious public debate and discussion with the public, the European welfare system, which has been built over decades, is being turned into a war machine.
Other attendees of the counter-gathering include Germany’s Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, Belgium’s PTB, Portugal’s Communist Party, Cyprus’ Akel, the Czech Republic’s Stacilo, Latvia’s For Stability and Greece’s Course of Freedom.
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