NATO chief believes independent EU defense is unnecessary

Security policy

NATO chief believes independent EU defense is unnecessary

Can the Europeans still rely on the USA for defense issues? Donald Trump’s policies raise great doubts among some people in the EU. The NATO Secretary General tries to calm people down.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte does not believe it is necessary for the EU to become completely independent of the United States in defense matters, despite the current course of the government of US President Donald Trump. The USA expected Europe to take on more responsibility and spend more money on defense, said Rutte in an interview with the German Press Agency. Ultimately, it’s about doing this alongside the USA. They are fully committed to NATO and remain in the alliance and in Europe.

Rutte responded with these words to the question of whether he shared CSU top politician Manfred Weber’s view of the current situation. The chairman of the European party family EPP recently called for the EU to be expanded into a European NATO and justified this by saying that the USA could no longer be fully relied on.

Rutte now said he really appreciates Manfred Weber. However, he has a slightly different view on this topic. “I am absolutely convinced that the USA is fully committed to NATO. There is no doubt about that,” he said.

The former Dutch head of government also referred to the NATO summit in The Hague in the summer, at which all allies committed to increasing their defense-related spending to five percent of gross domestic product by 2035. “I think this is one of President Trump’s greatest foreign policy successes to date,” he said.

Rutte also pointed out that NATO does not only consist of the USA and EU states. “When it comes to Europe and NATO, it’s more than the EU,” he said. The EU is very important. But if you look at the entire gross domestic product, the 23 EU members within NATO would only account for around a quarter of NATO’s total economic output. “75 percent are still outside the EU,” said Rutte, referring to NATO members such as Great Britain, Norway, Canada and also the USA.