NATO is based on the Washington Treaty signed in 1949. Article 5 of the Treaty says that any attack against one of the NATO member countries will be considered an attack against all. But article 6 sets geographical limits and says that this is only valid in European territory, in North American territory, in Turkish territory, in the Mediterranean islands and also in all the islands north of the Tropic of Cancer, but not in the north of Africa. That is why the Canary Islands are covered within this geographical framework, but not Ceuta and Melilla. This is the situation created by the Washington Treaty. How can this change at the NATO summit?
The video that accompanies this news solves this question. The Alliance has a legal limitation established in the founding treaty, but the force of politics can modulate that legal text. How can you do it? Is NATO thinking about the southern border of Spain or is it moved by other motivations? If there is a protective umbrella in Ceuta and Melilla, how can that umbrella work? EL PAÍS journalist Miguel González explains how NATO can evolve its mission to encompass Ceuta and Melilla without violating the founding treaty.
