BRUSSELS — NATO will not hold a summit in Albania next year despite previous plans to do so, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Thursday, November 12, pushing the alliance's Tirana meeting beyond 2027.

Source: Reuters, Nov 12, 2026

Speaking in Dublin ahead of a gathering of European leaders, Rama said: "The issue is that there is not yet common position on when the summit will happen, for sure not in 2027." He added: "And in 2028, if it will be a summit, it will be in Tirana."

Source: Reuters, Nov 12, 2026

A NATO official said on Thursday that "the next NATO Summit will be held in Albania. A decision on the date has yet to be made" — confirming the venue survives even as the year slips.

Source: NATO official, quoted by Reuters, Nov 12, 2026

Why the Tirana plan slipped

Reuters reported in June that plans for an alliance summit in Albania next year had been thrown into doubt due to resistance from the Trump administration and dissatisfaction among NATO members with Tirana's low defence spending. Diplomats say the alliance could still decide to hold a summit at short notice in 2026 — but not in Tirana.

Source: Reuters, Nov 12, 2026

The delay is a setback to a sequence leaders set out at the June 2025 NATO summit in The Hague, whose declaration said: "We look forward to our next meeting in Turkiye in 2026 followed by a meeting in Albania." No new date for the Albania meeting was announced on Thursday.

Source: Reuters, Nov 12, 2026

What happens next

Attention now turns to whether members can agree a 2028 date for Tirana, and to the defence-spending argument that helped stall the 2027 plan. Until a date is set, Albania — a NATO member since 2009 — keeps the promise of hosting the alliance's next summit, but without the year it expected.

Source: Reuters, Nov 12, 2026

The decision in one line

Rama in Dublin: no NATO summit in Tirana in 2027; NATO says the next summit is still Albania's — only the date is undecided.