Keynote: The Ankara Summit // Javier Colomina // Budapest Energy and Security Talks 2026

PANEL 1 - Opening Keynote Speeches: The Ankara Summit – The Alliance under Multiple Pressures and the Way Ahead for a Renewed Transatlantic Cooperation Keynote Speaker: Javier Colomina, Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy, NATO Key Questions: Türkiye hosts a NATO Summit for the second time, following the 2004 Istanbul Summit. Back in 2004, the Alliance admitted seven new members. Has this year’s Summit continued to make NATO „a stronger, fairer and more lethal Alliance, ready to respond to the critical challenges to our security,” as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said announcing the Summit? How have the 32 NATO member states lived up to the commitment of the Hague Summit in 2025, to raise their defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2035 and to boost their defense industries? How is the US administration’s new approach toward the allies playing out, and what are the consequences of the American administration’s 2025 National Defense Security document for the Alliance? What is the Alliance’s thinking regarding the situation in Ukraine, regarding Russia’s ongoing hybrid warfare against Europe, the impact of the US and Israeli military actions in Iran, as well as Iranian response to these, and to China advancing a Sino-centric world? Do these tensions add up to a “prefect storm,” leading towards a World War Three, and what is the Alliance thinking about taming, and ultimately quenching, the potential global storm? ---------------------------- 🌏The Equilibrium Institute hosted the 2026 edition of its annual Budapest Energy and Security Talks!🌏 BeSTalks has by now become the leading international platform for strategic thinking in Hungary. Its aim is to create a lasting forum that brings the key representatives of the international foreign, security and energy policy community to Budapest and provides them with direct dialogue with Hungarian decision-makers, experts, analysts and researchers. The BeSTalks connects hundreds of experts and decision-makers with the goal of making Hungary an active shaper of the Euro-Atlantic strategic dialogue that defines the Central and Eastern European region. 🗓️ Explore the full programme and meet the speakers here: https://best.eib.hu/ 🌐Follow us on other social media platforms! Facebook:   / egyensulyintezet   LinkedIn:   / equilibrium-institute1   #BESTALKS2026 #BudapestEnergyandSecurityTalks #EquilibriumInstitute