Watch live: Europe Today - NATO Summit special edition

Good morning.

It is Tuesday, 24th of June.

I'm Maeve McMahon and you're watching Europe Today, our special live show here on Euronews about the much-anticipated NATO summit taking place today and tomorrow in The Hague, the Netherlands.

For the next few days, we will be live with you here on Euronews, bringing you all the latest news and analysis on this first-ever NATO meeting for the US President since his re-election.

For now, NATO allies have already sealed a deal on spending 5% of GDP on defence and hope to convince Donald Trump that this is not the time to pull US troops out of Europe.

But coffee chats and side meetings in The Hague have so far been dominated by concerns about a wider Middle East war, with one senior NATO official saying this summit was meant to be about long-term strength, but now it's about crisis control.

For more, let's go straight to The Hague and bring in your news correspondent, Shona Murray, who's standing by for us this morning at the NATO summit.

Good morning, Shona.

Thank you so much for joining us, bright and early.

First question, has the conflict in the Middle East overshadowed the summit?

Well, Maeve, good morning from The Hague.

And I think that's an interesting question, and it also depends on what time of day you're asking it.

Because last night when we heard that Iran had attacked U.S. military sites in Qatar, everybody jumped to the conclusion that perhaps Donald Trump wouldn't even make it here, that he'd have to be stuck in a security-controlled room.

in the in dc but then later on we obviously heard that iran already pre-warned the united states so it is likely that donald trump will be here and i've heard from nato sources saying really that's not a core issue for nato however mark rutte the secretary general said yesterday afternoon that the world is becoming more dangerous and allies do agree of course that iran should never have

a nuclear weapon.

However, they will be trying to focus very much on what you talked about there, the reaching the defence spending of 5%.

That's really what NATO allies will be trying to concentrate on for the next couple of days.

Maeve?

It's amazing how you describe how the world is changing so fast.

While you were sleeping, it seems to be a ceasefire.

Of course, it's not confirmed yet by Iran or Israel, Shona, but do delegates there have any hope in this ceasefire?

That was announced by President Donald Trump himself.

Yeah, that's right.

He said that late last night that the two sides, he hoped, would come to an agreement.

But that hasn't been the case so far.

If you look at the Iranian attacks on Beersheba in Israel, I mean, there is definitely some belief here that eventually peace will prevail between Israel and Iran because the world is more dangerous, as Mark Rutte has said.

But at the same time, everything is so unpredictable.

And from a strategic perspective, NATO is obviously deeply concerned.

about how the Middle East will become even more vulnerable.

And even Turkish sources that I've spoken to have said that they themselves are quite vulnerable because, of course, NATO territory is part of NATO territory, at least is in the Middle East.

Well, indeed, that's what's so fascinating about this gathering.

It's such a high-stakes gathering, one of the most important, in fact, in recent history.

You said you were speaking to the Turkish delegation there.

What other sources have you been speaking to behind the scenes?

And we can see as well behind you locals excited about this gathering with a couple of people waving to you there on their bikes behind.

Yeah, of course.

I mean, 32 NATO allies are here.

I spoke to several of them.

Turkey in particular is quite interesting, though, because, of course, they firmly agree that Iran should never have a nuclear weapon.

But they are concerned about Mark Rutte's support unequivocally for this war, for the U.S. strikes and the Israeli strikes against Iran.

particularly because they're concerned about their own NATO territory, Turkey being in the Middle East.

They're also concerned about the fact that they're worried that Iran is saying that they may discontinue cooperation with the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is the nuclear watchdog.

We know that Iran had those questions over Iran's cooperation, but at least they had been allowing

some visitation there and there's concerns that they may end that.

So that's definitely going to be something that people will be talking on the sidelines here.

I did speak to other sources about one of the other major issues here over the next couple of days, which will be Ukraine, because there is a real contrast between

This summit in 2025 and the one last year where Ukraine and the issue of Ukraine, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, was front and centre.

Whereas this summit at the behest of the United States will have much less focus on Ukraine.

I mean, there will be a communique that says that Ukraine's security is NATO security only.

But there won't be, let's say, a face-to-face with Vladimir Zelensky and NATO leaders.

And that is obviously very disappointing for people who would like to see much more NATO support for Ukraine and even some language about Ukraine eventually becoming a NATO member, although we always knew that was never going to happen in the short or medium term.

And you mentioned earlier President Donald Trump, that he will indeed be attending the summit.

Do you know what time he'll be arriving?

And is there a concern there about delegations that you've been speaking to about his unpredictability, Shona?

Well, there always is that question about Donald Trump.

And of course, given the instability that we can see in the Middle East and so on, there is that question.

But he will, as far as I know, arrive sometime in the late afternoon and be preparing for that leaders dinner with the king and queen of the Netherlands.

But I think from an American perspective, this will be seen as something of a success if all comes to pass, because Donald Trump...

has forever since he became president in 2017 and since then trying to push nato allies to spend much more on defense and here you have this historic summit where they will agree to spend five percent of gdp in the next 10 years at least on defense spending and that is something very i suppose remarkable given that at least six countries hadn't even made it to the two percent mark

So he will say my influence in NATO is strong and NATO is going to be much stronger in the future because of me, Donald Trump.

That's at least the belief from the US side.

Maeve?

OK, Shona Murray, our reporter there in The Hague in the Netherlands.

We keep our eyes peeled to that story.

Of course, we have a rolling blog and you can catch Shona Murray's reporting all day long on Euronews and Euronews.net.

But for now, as you heard there from our correspondent Shona Murray, Qatar has also been dragged into this ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel and now the US.

We saw yesterday Iran launching a choreographed retaliatory strike against a major US airbase in Qatar.

where 8,000 American personnel are stationed.

For more on the situation this morning in Doha and hear how locals are reacting, we can bring in now your news correspondent, Leila Humarai, for an update.

Good morning, Leila.

Thank you so much for being with us here this morning.

Now, for now, President Trump has claimed that Israel and Iran have agreed on a ceasefire.

Has that calmed the situation there?

Is it back to business as usual in Qatar?

Yeah, I mean, we've just passed nine in the morning here in Qatar, and you can see behind me, it's pretty much back to business as usual.

You can see traffic behind me.

We're in the main financial district off Doha, Qatar, here in West Bay, and you can see that people are...

Carrying on their daily lives, and I just want to rewind back to around 12 hours before this, and even a little bit more before that, because right around 2 PM, local time was when the U. S. Embassy 1st issued a travel advisory to American citizens in Qatar to shelter in place in what they called an abundance of caution and that followed.

a couple of hours later with the Qataris then shutting down the airspace, citing security concerns.

And then shortly after that, within just around 45 minutes, that was when we heard the first explosions.

It sounded like explosions and it really rocked the city and the capital because this is not scenes when you look up in the sky in Qatar at night.

These are not scenes that you see at all.

so people were pretty shaken up and there was a series and you can see videos from social media then that the interception of the missiles now iran says that it claims that it has hit the al-udid airbase the largest military u.s military base in the region but so far from the white house from the pentagon and from the qatari officials there have been no reported casualties or damages now

With the ceasefire, yes, of course, the White House says the ceasefire has been in place since 4 GMT this morning.

But so far, no confirmation on the Iranians or the Israeli side about ceasefire.

In fact, there have been reports about reported strikes in Israel, as you mentioned.

So locals there are still probably on edge, even though this morning the situation has come.

They're being dragged into a war here that they never wanted to be dragged into.

Yeah, the government said schools will be suspended today, but it will continue tomorrow.

So, Anne, anyway, as you know, summer holidays have begun.

So people have put in place summer holidays and they were planning to fly out of Qatar anyway.

So that brief short shutdown of the airspace

had shaken people up, but now Qatar has reopened the airspace late last night and Qatar Airways have now reissued an update to the travel guidance in which people can now go to the airport and make their travel plans, continue their travel plans.

And Qatar for now has obviously condemned the attack, but are authorities still on the edge or are they thinking they could actually play a role here as a mediator?

Yes, obviously, as we know, Qatar has been playing mediator in the region for a long time now between a number of conflicts, and especially in the conflict in Gaza.

So from the Qatari official side, they have urged...

a quick de-escalation of tensions in the region and have urged continued diplomacy and mediating between the two sides.

And Qatar has also reiterated its commitment to helping the two sides find a solution and a pathway for peace.

OK, Leila Humaray there.

Thank you so much for that live update for us there from Doha.

For more on that, of course, do keep an eye on Euronews and on our live blog.

But for now, we can head back to the third largest city in the Netherlands to hear how The Hague has been preparing for their big moment on the world stage for this big, important NATO summit taking place today and tomorrow.

Our reporter Emma de Reuter reports.

We are here in The Hague and the final security measures have just gone into effect before the start of the NATO summit.

Here in the city centre, life continues as normal.

Shops and restaurants are open and as you can see, people are roaming the streets freely.

But just a few streets ahead, the first road closure can already be seen.

This is Zeisrad, a popular street leading into the city center of The Hague, before the next few days completely closed off to the public.

Just beyond these gates are several high-end hotels that have been booked out to host high-profile leaders attending the summit.

Donald Trump is likely staying about 30 kilometers away from the summit venue, allegedly at Grand Hotel Hauser down in Northwijk.

The hotel has been completely booked out and is under very high security.

During the nuclear summit in 2014, President Barack Obama also stayed there.

This is the biggest security operation that the Netherlands has ever conducted.

27,000 police officers have been deployed as well as 5,000 soldiers.

The last time the country hosted a summit at a similar scale was the nuclear summit in 2014, which cost 24 million euros.

This one is expected to cost over 180 million euros, quite a bit more.

As we come closer to the summit venue, we begin to notice the major disruptions that the residents of the surrounding areas are facing.

But the real deal is here at the World Forum where the summit is taking place.

People that live within the security boundaries have to pass through checkpoints like these anytime they want to enter or exit.

At this checkpoint, people can pick up their daily newspapers complete with coffee and croissants.

Emma DeRoyter reporting for us there on a summit that will see some 8,500 people touch base in The Hague over the next few days.

But meanwhile, back here in Brussels, new data out today shows how much defence lobbyists are cashing in on the global uncertainty and ongoing conflicts.

Alessio Delana reports.

Global turmoil and widespread regional conflicts are echoing in Brussels.

Talks on defence issues between MEPs and lobbyists are surging according to data revealed today by Transparency International.

From June 2024 to June 2025,

there was a total of 197 meetings between authorities and defense firms, consultants and trade associations.

That's nearly three times as much as the entire previous EU mandate, when only 78 such talks took place, transparency told Euronews.

German MEPs and reporters were the most engaged, with 55 meetings, Bulgaria placed second with 19,

followed by Spain, Finland, Italy and Denmark.

Most major defence manufacturers actually started increasing their budget for EU lobbying in the wake of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Collectively, the EU's seven top players spent around 5.5 million euros in 2023, 34% more from the previous year.

Airbus was the biggest spender with nearly 2 million euros.

And that was Alessio Delano there reporting for us.

Well, that brings this special edition of Europe Today to an end.

For more in-depth analysis on that summit in The Hague, you can visit our website, euronews.com.

We also have rolling live coverage on the ongoing Israel-Iran war.

But for now, thank you so much for watching.

See you again tomorrow morning here on Euronews.