NATO chief warns Europe cannot defend itself without US

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has dismissed calls for a standalone European defence force, warning that Europe cannot defend itself without the United States and that attempts to go it alone would only weaken collective security.

Speaking in Brussels during a joint session of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Security and Defence committees, Rutte argued that talk of a separate “European pillar” risks confusion, duplication and strategic distraction. He said the concept was often poorly defined, cautioning that creating parallel military structures would complicate command arrangements and drain already stretched manpower.

“A European pillar is a bit of an empty word,” Rutte said, adding that proposals resembling a European defence force would duplicate NATO structures and make coordination harder. “You have to find the men and women in uniform on top of what is happening already. It will make things more complicated. I think Putin will love it.”

Instead, he said Europe and NATO should focus on a clear division of labour, with NATO leading on command and control, capability development and standard-setting, while the European Union strengthens resilience, industrial capacity, regulation and defence financing mechanisms. Rutte was also outspoken in his assessment of transatlantic dependence, rejecting suggestions that Europe could secure itself independently of Washington.

“If anyone thinks that Europe can defend itself without the US, keep on dreaming. You can’t. We can’t. We need each other,” he said.

He argued that even dramatically increased European defence spending would not close the gap, particularly in nuclear deterrence. “If you really want to go it alone, forget that you can ever get there with 5%. It will be 10%. You would have to build your own nuclear capability, costing billions and billions,” he said, warning that such a path would mean losing the US nuclear umbrella. Rutte also pushed back against claims that the United States is drifting away from NATO, insisting Washington remains fully committed to Article Five collective defence.

He credited President Donald Trump with fundamentally reshaping NATO defence spending, despite acknowledging that such praise would be unpopular with parts of his audience. “The fact that all NATO countries reached 2% by the end of 2025 would never, ever have happened without Trump,” he said. “Do you really think Spain, Italy, Belgium or Canada would have moved from 1.5 to 2% without him? No way.”

Rutte said the defence spending commitments agreed at the Hague summit, including a 5% benchmark combining core defence and security-related investment, had removed Washington’s long-standing frustration over burden sharing. He pointed to Germany as a key example, noting that Berlin’s defence budget is set to rise from around €70 billion in 2021 to roughly €160 billion by 2029, reaching 3.5% core defence spending as part of the wider 5% commitment. Canada, he added, was also “back” as a serious contributor, committing to increased spending and expanded support for Ukraine.

Rutte concluded that NATO remains indispensable not only for Europe, but for the United States itself, citing shared interests in the Arctic, the Euro-Atlantic and wider strategic stability. “The US has every interest in NATO, just as Europe and Canada do,” he said, arguing that transatlantic security remains indivisible despite shifting global pressures.