NATO Parliamentary Assembly talks security on day one in Dayton
May 23—To end the war in Ukraine will require moral strength and clarity of purpose, the president of NATO's Parliamentary Assembly declared as the first day of the assembly's spring session opened Friday at the Benjamin and Marian Schuster Center in downtown Dayton.
"How this war ends will define the world we and our children live in," NATO Parliamentary Assembly President Marcos Perestrello said as hundreds of NATO delegates gathered in the Shuster Center's Winsupply Theater, which had been transformed for the event.
Saying NATO faced the "most difficult security environment in a generation," Perestrello said the alliance must summon "clarity, unity and strength" to help end the war in Ukraine and rebalance defense investments.
Perestrello acknowledged that change will be part of the challenge. President Donald Trump has called on NATO members to meet required defense investments as a percentage of national gross domestic product.
"We must shift the transatlantic burden and responsibility within NATO," Perestrello said.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau welcomed delegates and applauded Dayton as the birthplace of the Dayton Peace Accords, which ended a 1990s war in the former Yugoslavia and which some have cited as a possible model for ending the war in Ukraine.
"There are few more noble endeavors that seeking peace for yourself and for others," Landau said.
The accords were crafted over 21 days at nearby Wright-Patterson Air Force Base 30 years ago this November, and U.S. Rep. Mike Turner said delegates and invited guests can look forward to a performance of the Sarajevo Philharmonic at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force this weekend.
He praised the base's role in "in bringing the leaders of the Balkan areas to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to bring an end to the bloodshed and to the horrific war" in that region, and he challenged delegates to take the lessons of the Dayton accords and apply them "prospectively" to Ukraine.
However, during a panel discussion Friday, when asked what lessons the accords offer that could be applied toward Ukraine, Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden, declared to applause: "None."
"This is a different kind of conflict," Bildt said. "With Ukraine, you have Russia trying to rebuild an empire."
Landau said the Trump administration was willing to be a partner in assisting NATO, but he warned that the administration would seek to avoid what he called the "extremes" of "relitigating ancient grievances" and "wishing for transcendental transformation."
"We in the Trump administration are willing to provide our good offices to improve conditions but only if our involvement is wanted and warranted," Landau said, adding that the administration offers "new thinking."
In a recent policy address in Saudi Arabia, Landau reminded delegates, Trump "acknowledged the disasters of U.S. efforts at nation-building around the world in recent decades and the pride, the arrogance, of those who get on airplanes in foreign lands and think that they have all the answers."
NATO's highest ranking representative is coming to Dayton this weekend, the alliance also announced Friday.
The NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte, will take part in sessions Sunday and Monday.
The assembly meets in Dayton through Monday.
The assembly is a transatlantic forum that brings together 281 parliamentarians from NATO's 32 member countries. More than 500 participants are expected to visit the city, Perestrello said.
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