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“Donald Trump is very important to NATO and very committed to NATO”, Secretary General Mark Rutte said remarks at the European Parliament on Monday as many MEPs worry about the president of the United States’ aggressive rhetoric against Europe.
Whereas Trump’s threats to control Greenland have been defined as “the end of NATO” by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Rutte said he believes that US President “deserves to be defended” and “is doing a lot of good stuff” for the NATO alliance.
“The 2% [of the GDP spending target on defence] reached by all NATO countries at the end of 2025 would have never ever happened without Trump”, Rutte told the Parliament’s committees on Security and Defence and Foreign Affairs.
“Do you really think that Spain, Italy, Belgium and Canada would have decided to move from 1.5% to 2% without President Trump? No way! Do you really think that we would have come to the 5% [spending target on defense] commitment without President Trump? No way!” Rutte argued.
The secretary general said he praises Trump when US President does “good stuff”, and that he does not even mind US President publishing personal text messages – a reference to a leaked exchange in which Rutte described Trump’s bombing of Iran as “decisive” and “extraordinary”.
Rutte is strongly convinced that Europe is fundamentally dependent on US security support, and minced no words in reiterating this to the assembled MEPs.
“If anyone here thinks that the European Union can defend itself without the US, keep on dreaming. You can’t”, he said – arguing that if European countries wanted to go it alone, they would need to invest 10% of their GDP to build their own nuclear weapons capability, which costs billions of euros.
“In that scenario, you would lose the ultimate guarantor of our freedom, which is the US nuclear umbrella. So, good luck!”
The Greenland factor
Some MEPs praised Rutte for helping to de-escalate tension between the US and the EU over Greenland last week, but also asked for more information on the deal that Rutte struck with Trump on the future of the Arctic island.
He did not provide specific details, but explained that two work streams have been agreed with Trump’s administration. The first foresees NATO taking more responsibility for the defence of the Arctic region in order to “prevent the Russians and the Chinese getting more access” to it, while the second involves a direct dialogue between the US and Denmark and Greenland leadership.
Talks are already underway, but Rutte has no mandate to intervene in them.
Rutte also touched upon different topics, in particular the war in Ukraine. He praised the EU for having put together a €90 billion loan to Kyiv, but urged the Parliament to be “flexible” and avoid attaching a strict clause requiring that the money be used to buy only weapons fabricated in Europe.
“Europe is now building its defence industry, […] but it cannot at the moment provide nearly enough of what Ukraine needs to defend itself today and to deter tomorrow”, Rutte said.
