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Jens Stoltenberg’s alarming warning: “The European Union cannot defend Europe!”

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Jens Stoltenberg’s alarming warning: “The European Union cannot defend Europe!”

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NATO General Secretary, Jens Stoltenberg, warned Europe on Wednesday against trying to go it alone on defence after comments by Donald Trump prompted fresh debate over whether the continent can continue to rely on protection from the United States.

“The European Union cannot defend Europe. Eighty percent of NATO’s defence expenditures come from non-EU NATO allies,” Stoltenberg, secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, told Reuters in an interview.

Stoltenberg said it was clear that Europe’s security depended not just on Europe itself but on other NATO members such as the United States, Canada, Turkey, Norway and Iceland.
“If you just look at the map, it’s obvious that all these countries, non-EU allies, are vital for the protection of Europe,” he said.
He added that “any attempt to de-link Europe from North America will also divide Europe”. Many European nations, particularly in Eastern Europe, see the U.S. as their primary security guarantor and would oppose any move to change that.

Trump, the former president of the United States and leading contender to be the Republican nominee in this year’s presidential election, drew sharp criticism from Western leaders for stating that he had informed NATO members that the U.S. would not defend those who failed to meet defense spending targets and might even encourage Russia to attack them. Many European politicians viewed Trump’s remarks as a wake-up call, urging Europe to enhance its defense capabilities.

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Stoltenberg emphasized that European NATO members must step up their defense efforts, and indeed, they are doing so. However, he stressed that this should occur within a transatlantic framework. Earlier on Wednesday, he announced that European allies would invest $380 billion in defense this year, increasing their spending to an estimated 2% of total GDP in 2024, up from 1.85% in 2023.

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