Europe must finally get serious about its own defence
The US secretary of defence tells allies it’s “unrealistic” to think Ukraine can
return to pre-2014 borders and also rules out NATO membership as a way to
guarantee Kyiv’s security.
Security and Defence Editor @haynesdeborah [http://twitter.com/@haynesdeborah]
Wednesday 12 February 2025 18:25, UK
That Donald Trump does not want to bankroll European security is not a surprise.
But the stark tone of his defence secretary – saying the US cannot be “primarily
focused on the security of Europe”
[https://news.sky.com/story/us-troops-will-not-be-used-to-secure-ukraine-peace-following-ceasefire-deal-with-putin-trumps-defence-secretary-tells-allies-13307774]
– will still send shock waves through the alliance.
Yet London, Paris, Berlin and elsewhere have no one else to blame but themselves
for leaving their respective nations to be hopelessly over-reliant on US
military support instead of funding their own militaries to ensure they are
credible and have the capacity to fight.
Ukraine latest: Trump invites Putin to US after 90-minute call
[https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-russia-war-latest-putin-trump-moscow-zelenskyy-kremlin-live-sky-news-latest-12541713]
Mr Trump [https://news.sky.com/topic/donald-trump-5711]’s stark threats during
his first term in office to withdraw the US from NATO
[https://news.sky.com/topic/nato-5921] altogether, unless other member states
start taking on a fairer share of the burden of European security, should have
been enough to jump-start a push to rebuild European militaries – hollowed out
during decades of cost-saving cuts since the end of the Cold War.
They did not.
European allies had an even bigger wake-up call on 24 February 2022 when Russia
[https://news.sky.com/topic/russia-5803] launched its full-scale invasion of
Ukraine [https://news.sky.com/topic/ukraine-6556], which is not a NATO ally.
The eruption of the biggest conflict in Europe since the Second World War did
prompt the UK and other European states to talk much tougher on the need to
bolster their defences – but even then the change in the most part has been far
too slow relative to the threat.
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So here the UK and other European allies are all, once again, facing the wrath
of an even more robust, self-interested White House, with Pete Hegseth, the new
defence secretary, delivering his boss’s message that Washington has bigger
priorities than protecting Europe.
Mark Rutte, the NATO secretary general, understands the need to respond credibly
to the US warning signs.
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Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, he said he expects allies to
increase defence spending to “north of 3%” of GDP “rather sooner than later”.
That is less than a 5% target put forward by Mr Trump, but it would at least be
a step in the right direction, not just to keep the US committed to NATO, but to
enable allies to rebuild their armies, navies and air forces they need to deter
Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.
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Repeated American administrations – not just the two Trump eras – have
criticised the vast majority of NATO allies for cutting investment in their
armed forces and instead reaping the benefits of a so-called peace dividend
following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The difference with Mr Trump is that he is far blunter with his words and also a
lot less committed to the transatlantic bond of security developed during two
world wars.
It means that his threats not to come to the aid of a NATO ally if it fails to
spend enough on defence are not just empty rhetoric but a genuine threat.
Such language also undermines the fundamental principle of the alliance – that
an attack against one member state is regarded as an attack on all.
The only response for Europe now is finally to get serious when it comes to its
own defence.
