NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told European Union lawmakers on Monday that Europe cannot defend itself without U.S. military support and would need to more than double current defense spending—and develop its own nuclear arsenal—to achieve independence from American protection.
The remarks underscore deepening questions within the Western alliance about Europe’s defense autonomy and its reliance on American security commitments, even as the Trump administration signals shifting geopolitical priorities and applies pressure on allied defense spending.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s blunt assessment of European military capacity has brought into focus a widening conversation within the alliance over who bears responsibility for regional security.
Speaking to European Union lawmakers in Brussels on Monday, Rutte abandoned diplomatic hedging. “If anyone thinks here that the European Union or Europe as a whole can defend itself without the U.S., keep on dreaming. You can’t,” he said. The two pillars of Western security, he argued, need each other.
Defense Spending Goals Fall Short of Independence
The NATO chief’s remarks arrive as allied nations face budgetary pressures and Trump administration pressure to increase military spending. At NATO’s summit last July, European allies—with the exception of Spain—plus Canada agreed to spend 3.5% of gross domestic product on core defense and 1.5% on security-related infrastructure by 2035, reaching a combined 5% of GDP.
That commitment falls far short of what independent European defense would require, Rutte suggested. “If you really want to go it alone,” he said, “forget that you can ever get there with 5%. It will be 10%. You have to build up your own nuclear capability. That costs billions and billions of euros.”
Greenland Tensions Expose Alliance Fractures
The urgency in Rutte’s language reflects the tensions roiling NATO—tensions sparked by the Trump administration’s campaign against Greenland. In recent weeks, Trump threatened to annex the semiautonomous Danish territory and said he was imposing new tariffs on Greenland’s European backers. Those threats subsided after a framework for a deal was reached, with Rutte playing a mediating role. Few details of the agreement have been disclosed.
The disputes over Greenland point to deeper questions about the durability of the U.S. security commitment to Europe at a moment when the Trump administration has made clear that its strategic priorities lie elsewhere.
France Leads Push for European Autonomy
France has emerged as the leading advocate for European strategic autonomy—the capacity to conduct military operations and defense planning independent of the United States. Support for the French position has grown since the Trump administration cautioned that American security priorities no longer center exclusively on NATO’s theater.
NATO’s founding treaty, Article 5, commits all 32 member nations to collective defense if any member’s territory comes under threat. That provision remains formally in effect, and Rutte did not call for its weakening. Rather, he was articulating a material reality: the military capability to invoke it without American backing does not exist, and building it would impose substantial costs.
The debate unfolds at a moment when NATO confronts questions on multiple fronts—from Russian operations in Ukraine to strategic competition with China—while managing alliance cohesion under an American administration that has made clear its expectation that European nations should shoulder more of the defense burden.