Rutte: US strike plans come into effect immediately

Alliance defense

Rutte: US strike plans come into effect immediately

After US plans to cut NATO commitments, the NATO Secretary General warns: Europe must become stronger when it comes to military replacements. He wants to dispel worries.

According to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, the US military’s plans to cut operations in Europe will come into force immediately. Before the meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels, he also made it clear that increased efforts by the Europeans were necessary to provide military replacements for deterrence.

Rutte repeatedly pointed out that these were cuts as part of a planning instrument (NATO Force Model), while in the event of war all allies – including the USA – would make maximum military efforts. “But if there were a war, we would all go to the limits of our capabilities (“max out”) to ensure that we can fight the war,” said Rutte.

With the so-called NATO Force Model, the alliance determines which member states have how many forces and capabilities available and how quickly they must be available. Rutte had already confirmed on Wednesday that the USA would have fewer military capabilities for deterrence and defense on standby under NATO command in the future.

“Everything here revolves around NATO 3.0. A stronger Europe in a stronger NATO that we are building,” Rutte told journalists. The European NATO allies are already replacing some capabilities or are almost there. “More work” is needed in other areas.

Almost three weeks before the NATO summit in Türkiye, the defense ministers are meeting in Brussels today. The topic of the discussions will be, among other things, the question of how the Europeans and Canadians are progressing with their rearmament efforts. The allies promised US President Donald Trump at the summit last year that they would invest five percent of gross domestic product in defense and security every year from 2035 at the latest. Previously the target was two percent.