On Monday 13 January, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that it was an illusion to believe that it would be possible to create a European NATO “for ideological reasons” in the next decade.
“Regarding a more autonomous European defence, it would be great to have a sort of European NATO, but in that case, it's not 2% (of GDP to be spent on defence), but 8, 9 or 10% that’s needed (...). It will take 15 to 20 years to build a European NATO without the United States”, he told MEPs. He pointed out that the United States spends “over 60% of all the money spent on NATO territory”. According to Mr Rutte, “it is an illusion to think that you can build a European NATO in the next 10 to 15 years”. Saying he was opposed to such a project of a NATO without the United States, Mr Rutte also said he was convinced that the United States would remain an ally, despite the Trump administration’s threat to leave the Alliance.
Asked about defence spending, the Secretary General pointed out that 2% was not enough and said that the Allies would be working on the subject, with the aim of reaching an agreement in June, before the summit in The Hague. “We need to spend better, make joint procurements. innovate, but also spend more. If spending doesn’t rise, then (you should) take Russian language courses or go to New Zealand”, he added (see EUROPE 13544/14).
And while the Europeans are still discussing the EDIP programme and the eligibility criteria, the Secretary General warned against new barriers between the Allies. “We must avoid creating new barriers between the Allies, which means additional costs and difficulties in production. We need to involve the other Allies, and cooperation in this area is becoming increasingly fundamental”, he warned, emphasising the need for complementarity.
Mr Rutte also highlighted efforts to bring NATO closer to the EU with the creation of a task force (see EUROPE 13514/24), adding that in these “troubled times in terms of security”, it was necessary to strengthen collaboration. “We must act, we must invest much more in defence, in defence capacity, strengthen our resilience, continue our support for Ukraine to turn the situation around and avoid further Russian aggression”, Mr Rutte summed up.
A retreat to prepare for the future. At the same time, the President of the European Council, António Costa, officially invited European leaders to an informal retreat on European defence on 3 February at the Château de Limont (Belgium). Mr Rutte will attend the lunch and the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, will attend the dinner.
“The purpose of this meeting is to prepare the ground for the decisions we will have to take and to provide guidance to the Commission and the High Representative as they prepare a white paper on the future of European defence” scheduled for mid-March, explained Mr Costa in his invitation letter.
The President wants to base the discussion on two principles: the fact that the EU must assume greater responsibility for its own defence, “become more resilient, more effective, more autonomous and a more reliable security and defence actor”, and a common interest in cooperating more closely at European level “in order to maximise economies of scale and reduce costs, guarantee interoperability, ensure stable and long-term demand – so as to give more predictability to our industry – and prevent duplication”. The discussion will focus in particular on defence financing.
To structure the discussion, the president poses a number of questions to his counterparts. He wants to know what defence capabilities should be developed as a priority and how they should be defined, given their importance for the EU’s collective security.
“Do we agree to spend more and better together? How can we accelerate the mobilisation of private financing and through which EU instruments? How can we best use the EU budget in the short, medium and long term? In the light of the considerable financing needs, what additional common options can be considered?”, he asks.
Finally, Mr Costa wants to know how existing partnerships can be further strengthened and deepened, and what the objectives and priorities should be with non-EU European partners.
The subject of defence will be discussed again at the European Council in March, particularly from the point of view of financing, and in June, in a broader context, in order to draw up a strategy.
To see the invitation letter: https://aeur.eu/f/f0r (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)