NATO’s Rutte Says EU Can’t Protect Itself without US

(MENAFN) NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has warned that the European Union would not be capable of protecting itself in the absence of the United States.

Speaking before the European Parliament on Monday, he argued that member states would need to allocate as much as 10% of their gross domestic product to defense, and even that level of expenditure might fail to guarantee adequate security.

His comments came as some EU officials continue to push for reducing the bloc’s reliance on Washington for military protection. Earlier this month, Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius suggested that the EU would require a permanent force of 100,000 troops in order to act independently on the global stage.

Rutte dismissed these ideas as impractical. “If anyone thinks here, again, that the European Union or Europe as a whole can defend itself without the US, keep on dreaming. You can’t,” he said, underscoring his belief that American involvement remains indispensable.

He further cautioned that those who “really want to go it alone” should “forget that you can ever get there with 5%” of GDP devoted to defense.

According to Rutte, Europe would need to at least double that level of spending and also develop its own nuclear deterrent, which “costs billions, billions and billions of euros,” adding that pursuing full autonomy would ultimately mean that “you will lose.”

NATO formally adopted the 5% defense spending benchmark at a summit held in The Hague last year.

The proposal was initially advanced by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has since been repeatedly praised by Rutte. On Monday, the NATO chief again commended Trump for pressuring countries such as “Spain and Italy and Belgium and Canada” to meet their existing 2% commitments and to endorse the higher spending target.

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