NATO chief needs ‘good luck’ to those that assume Europe can defend itself with out US assist : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6099x4066+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ff4%2Fef%2F88fc045c489d831f0f0f8b7e4c20%2Fap26026537516671.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6099x4066+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ff4%2Fef%2F88fc045c489d831f0f0f8b7e4c20%2Fap26026537516671.jpg" class="img" alt="NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, center, greets the audience prior to his address during the Security and Defence Committee at the European Parliament in Brussels, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026." fetchpriority="high"/> NATO Secretary Normal Mark Rutte, heart, greets the viewers previous to his deal with in the course of the Safety and Defence Committee on the European Parliament in Brussels, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. Virginia Mayo/AP disguise caption

toggle caption

Virginia Mayo/AP BRUSSELS — NATO Secretary-Normal Mark Rutte insisted Monday that Europe is incapable of defending itself with out U.S. army help and must greater than double present army spending targets to have the ability to achieve this.

"If anybody thinks right here … that the European Union or Europe as a complete can defend itself with out the U.S., carry on dreaming. You may't," Rutte informed EU lawmakers in Brussels. Europe and the USA "want one another," he mentioned.

Tensions are festering inside NATO over U.S. President Donald Trump's renewed threats in current weeks to annex Greenland, which is a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark.

Trump additionally mentioned that he was slapping new tariffs on Greenland's European backers, however later dropped his threats after a "framework" for a deal over the mineral-rich island was reached, with Rutte's assist. Few particulars of the settlement have emerged.

The 32-nation army group is sure collectively by a mutual protection clause, Article 5 of NATO's founding Washington treaty, which commits each nation to come back to the protection of an ally whose territory is beneath risk.

At NATO's summit in The Hague in July, European allies — except Spain — plus Canada agreed to Trump's demand that they make investments the identical share of their financial output on protection as the USA inside a decade.

They pledged to spend 3.5% of gross home product on core protection, and an additional 1.5% on security-related infrastructure – a complete of 5% of GDP – by 2035.

"For those who actually wish to go it alone," Rutte mentioned, "overlook that you would be able to ever get there with 5%. It is going to be 10%. It's important to construct up your individual nuclear functionality. That prices billions and billions of euros."

France has led requires Europe to construct its "strategic autonomy," and help for its stance has grown for the reason that Trump administration warned final yr that its safety priorities lie elsewhere and that the Europeans must fend for themselves.

Rutte informed the lawmakers that with out the USA, Europe "would lose the final word guarantor of our freedom, which is the U.S. nuclear umbrella. So, hey, good luck!"