NATO is a political-military alliance, whose soft-power is increasingly important. This was stated by the president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Paolo Alli, during the conference “Transatlantic Forum on Russia”, held today at the Center for American Studies. Alli recalled how the 2014 agreement on defense spending set at 2 percent for member countries "is not Trump's invention, but a serious problem that also leads to thinking about how to spend". Some countries, as pointed out by the president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, spend more than 2 per cent but do not give soldiers for international missions, while Italy has almost 8 men employed abroad, although it does not reach the established threshold. Alli then wondered about the consequence of the rearmament set, should a country like Germany double its military spending. “The first objective, that of stopping the decrease in expenses, has been achieved, as well as that for the recovery of investments”, continued Alli. NATO "is a non-military alliance, but a political-military one, in which the political and soft power aspects are increasingly important and strong". The soft power of NATO is according to Alli higher than that of the EU, because the Atlantic Alliance is now an organization perceived as global and not just regional. Investments in rapid reaction forces also make them available for operations on the South Flank, and not only in the North, explained the president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, finally highlighting how the missions of the Atlantic Alliance are for the most part peacekeeping with the UN, "where military, intelligence and cybersecurity structures have been made available for interventions in distant areas", such as in Africa.
