NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is facing a backlash after saying that the European Union should “keep on dreaming” about becoming independent from the United States, its largest ally, in matters related to security and defence.
His comments came on the heels of US President Donald Trump’s attempt to seize Greenland from Denmark through punitive measures, an unprecedented dispute that brought the nearly 80-year-old transatlantic alliance to the brink of collapse.
The tensions were defused by a deal on Arctic security brokered by Rutte.
“When President Trump is doing good stuff, I will praise him, and I don’t mind him publishing text messages,” Rutte told members of the European Parliament on Monday afternoon, referring to Trump’s leaking of the two men’s personal communications.
“If anyone thinks here, again, that the European Union, or Europe as a whole, can defend itself without the US, keep on dreaming. You can’t. We can’t. We need each other.”
Rutte argued that European nations would have to spend 10% of their GDP, rather than 5% as under the current goal, to make up for the loss of Washington’s backing.
“You’d have to build up your own nuclear capability. That costs billions and billions of euros,” he said. “In that scenario, you would lose the ultimate guarantor of our freedom, which is the US nuclear umbrella. So, hey, good luck!”
Rutte’s intervention at the Parliament quickly attracted interest on social media, where clips were widely shared by users and picked over by analysts.
In response, Paula Pinho, the chief spokesperson of the European Commission, said the political focus should remain on making the EU “increasingly resilient” and “increasingly independent” on “various fronts”, including security and defence.
“We have a positive story to tell in terms of how we’ve been able to reduce our dependence on imports of fossil fuels from Russia,” Pinho said on Tuesday afternoon. “Such dependencies are seen also in other areas: on defence, on critical raw materials.,”
“We are engaged in doing all that needs to be done to reduce that dependence, to reduce that exposure.”
Pinho referred to the speech delivered by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week, calling for greater “European independence” in response to the growing geopolitical instability and confrontation. Von der Leyen also teased an upcoming security strategy with special emphasis on the hotly contested Arctic region.
“We’re really pulling together a number of measures with one aim,” Pinho went on. “To ensure that we can (achieve) such a gradual independence.”
‘Trump is not my daddy’
However, the fiercest backlash against Rutte came from France, a vocal advocate of the concept of “strategic autonomy” and the “Made in Europe” preference for public tenders.
“No, dear Mark Rutte. Europeans can and must take charge of their own security. Even the United States agrees. It is the European pillar of NATO,” said French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot on his X account.
Benjamin Haddad, France’s deputy minister for European affairs, echoed the message, pointing to the fact that Europe, not the US, is the largest donor to Ukraine.
“We have to go much further (on defence). We have no other choice. We see a world that is becoming more brutal, more violent. We see threats coming from American allies against the sovereignty of Denmark,” Haddad said in an interview with DW.
“It is now time to take matters into our own hands and defend our security. But the truth is: Europeans are not weak. We have the tools. We have the instruments.”
Nathalie Loiseau, a prominent French MEP who attended the committee meeting at which Rutte spoke, delivered a blunter assessment.
“It was a disgraceful moment,” Loiseau wrote on her social media. “Rutte thinks that being rude (to) Europeans will please Trump. We don’t need a Trump zealot. NATO needs to rebalance between US and European efforts.”
Meanwhile, Charles Michel, the former president of the European Council, mocked the NATO chief for having called Trump “daddy” during last year’s war between Israel and Iran. Trump later used the term to defend his own foreign policy decisions.
“Dear Mark Rutte, you’re wrong. Europe will defend itself. And Donald Trump is not my daddy,” Michel said. “Europe’s future requires vision, courage and leadership. Not resignation, submission and fatalism.”