NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on the 26th of January rejected calls from some leading European politicians to create a separate European army, Reuters reports.
The idea of a European army has been fueled by US President Donald Trump’s statements about a possible occupation of Greenland, which in turn raised concerns about NATO unity. Rutte told proponents of the new army idea that they could keep dreaming, saying that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin would be happy with such a plan because it would weaken each country’s military.
Speaking at the European Parliament in Brussels, Rutte said that European countries should continue to take more responsibility for their own security, as US President Donald Trump has called for, but that
this should be done within the framework of the transatlantic alliance.
The possibility of creating a single European army has been discussed in recent weeks by Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares and EU Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius. Rutte did not specifically address any of the proposals, but rejected the idea in general, insisting that Trump and the United States remain committed to NATO, despite the US president’s remarks against alliance member Denmark, which also controls Greenland.
Rutte said that if Europeans really want to do things alone, it will cost much more than the 5% of GDP that NATO members have pledged to spend on defense. He stressed that this would require building their own nuclear arsenal, which would cost billions of euros, and in this case would mean losing a crucial security guarantor, in this case the US nuclear capabilities.
Read also: Illusions are dangerous for a small state – former minister on Latvia’s security