The US-led treaty organization is “more” than the bloc both economically and militarily, its secretary general has said
The EU would only hurt itself if it decides to go its own way in the field of security, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has told dpa news agency. The European members of the bloc need to comply with Washington’s demands and spend more on their militaries instead, he stated on Friday.
Rutte was responding to Manfred Weber, the head of the European People’s Party (EPP), the largest group in the European Parliament, who called for the EU to be turned into a “European NATO” in late November. On Friday, he urged Brussels to “act confidently” and “write [its] own security strategy.”
“We must stop shaping our policy out of Washington papers,” the German politician said. When asked if he shares the sentiment, the NATO chief warned that “there’s more than the EU” when it comes to NATO.
The EU members of the US-led bloc account for only around a quarter of its total economic output he said. Washington has “one big expectation” of its European NATO partners, which is “us spending more, Europe taking more responsibility,” Rutte maintained.
US President Donald Trump pushed NATO members towards committing to spend 5% of their GDP on their militaries annually by 2035 at a summit in The Hague in June. The move did not sit well with some members, including Slovakia and Spain. Madrid emerged as the biggest opponent of the increase, which it dismissed as “absolutely impossible,” prompting Trump to threaten it with tariffs over a failure to comply.
Brussels and Washington also appear to have different approaches to the Ukraine conflict. In November, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban warned that the EU was stalling US peace efforts and “plotting war.” Earlier the same month, the New York Times reported that Washington had cautioned Kiev’s European backers against dragging out the conflict, citing an increasing risk of escalation.
Moscow maintains that the hostilities are a NATO proxy war sparked by the bloc’s continued eastward expansion. Earlier this month, President Vladimir Putin told a Q&A that Russia has no desire to confront the bloc as long as its interests are respected.
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