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US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth lashed out at NATO allies on Thursday as he announced a six-month Pentagon review of his country’s forces in Europe whose outcome will depend on how fast the Europeans take responsibility for their own security.
The review was yet another surprise for European allies and Canada as they learn to deal with an increasingly unpredictable ally.
US officials and senior military officers had promised to coordinate closely with the Europeans as Washington draws down its troop presence around the continent, moves that first started in Germany, Spain and Italy after President Donald Trump clashed with their leaders.
In recent months, Trump and the Pentagon have sent conflicting signals about whether the US is reducing or increasing its military footprint in Europe, as well as threatening to annex Greenland, a semiautonomous island that is part of ally Denmark.
Just weeks ago, the Trump administration said that it would no longer provide as much military support should any NATO member come under attack.
“This will be a real review. It will be designed to ensure that NATO is moving fast and irreversibly toward Europe leading, stepping up to take primary responsibility for the defence of Europe,” Hegseth told his NATO counterparts as they met in Brussels.
“It’s a review that some countries will fail and others will pass with flying colours,” added the US defence chief.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz later said the allies have long been aware of Washington’s plans to pull troops from Europe at some point and that they must take care of their own security.
“We know that we must do more and we are doing it,” Merz said.
In a fiery speech at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Hegseth lambasted European allies for failing to provide US forces access to bases in Europe to launch attacks on Iran, calling it “shameful.”
“These allies, they put America’s sons and daughters, our sons and daughters, at risk by denying them the predictable access, basing and overflight that never should have been in question at all,” he said, adding that the review would also assess whether the US has full access and overflight “when we need it.”
While defence ministers and military officers sat in silence, Hegseth railed against migration and gender equality policies in Europe, in remarks reminiscent to those of Vice President JD Vance in February last year that angered many Europeans.
“Instead of tanks and fighters and air defences, the focus has been on gender equity and climate change and defence austerity. Europe’s borders flew wide open, welfare states expanded, defence budgets cratered, along with Europe’s belief in itself and its civilisation,” stressed Hegseth.
It was a rare visit to NATO by Hegseth, his first this year after skipping a meeting in February.
The Pentagon chief did not stay long, leaving well before the gathering was over and hours before Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to press allies for more weapons for his country.
Speaking to reporters at Brussels airport before flying home, Hegseth said, “It was great to hear country after country say, ‘We’re going to meet our target. We’re going to meet our target.’ There are still a few outliers, and we will be clear with them as we do this review.”
The fiery remarks may however create a climate of uncertainty among NATO allies who are due to meet in Turkey early next month in a scheduled leaders’ summit.
Additional sources • AP