Europe has "an urgent need to avoid a trade war with the incoming Trump administration." That's according to EU Commission Vice President Stéphane Séjourné, who told a small group of international media, including ANSA, that "neither the Americans nor the Europeans have an interest" in a confrontation. Brussels will have to "maintain the unity of the twenty-seven in the face of the risk of each one going to Washington to defend its own little garden," the French industry commissioner stressed, while admitting that this will not be an easy mission for Ursula von der Leyen's executive.
"Let NATO and the EU be two institutions working in parallel, and the first steps are in the right direction. It is necessary to think about defense not only from the military aspect, but also including social and diplomatic interventions. In this aspect, the Parliament can be very helpful". This was said by Forza Italia MEP and President of the Delegation for relations with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Salvatore De Meo, during his hearing with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
"It is necessary to emphasize this awareness, so that investment in defense is not only seen as an obligation, but there is an awareness that it is a means to be able to improve not only defensive capabilities, but also social welfare.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said it was an illusion to believe that it would be possible to create a European NATO "for ideological reasons" in the next decade.
"As far as a more autonomous European defense is concerned, it would be great to have some kind of European NATO, but in that case it's not 2% (of GDP to be spent on defense), it's 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 "more than 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. Mr. Rutte said he was opposed to such a project of a NATO without the United States, and 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 defense spending, the secretary general pointed out that 2% was not enough and said the allies would work on the issue with the aim of reaching an agreement in June, before the summit in The Hague. "We need to spend better, we need to do joint procurement, we need to innovate, but we also need to spend more. If spending doesn't go up, (you should) take Russian language courses or go to New Zealand," he added.
And while the Europeans are still discussing the EDIP program and eligibility criteria, the Secretary General warned against creating new barriers between the Allies. "We must avoid creating new barriers between Allies, which means additional costs and difficulties in production. We must involve the other Allies, and cooperation in this area is becoming increasingly fundamental," he warned, stressing the need for complementarity.
Mr. Rutte also highlighted efforts to bring NATO closer to the EU with the creation of a task force, adding that in these "troubled times in terms of security" it was necessary to strengthen cooperation.
"We must act, we must invest much more in defense, in defense capacity, in strengthening our resilience, in continuing our support for Ukraine to turn the situation around and to prevent further Russian aggression," Rutte concluded.
A retreat to prepare for the future. At the same time, the President of the European Council, António Costa, formally invited European leaders to an informal retreat on European defense on February 3 at the Château de Limont (Belgium). Rutte will attend the luncheon and 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 give guidance to the Commission and the High Representative in their preparation of a White Paper on the future of European defense," Costa said in his invitation letter.
The President intends to base the discussion on two principles: the fact that the EU must take greater responsibility for its own defense "in order to become more resilient, more effective, more autonomous and a more reliable security and defense actor"; and the common interest in closer cooperation at European level "to maximize economies of scale and reduce costs, to ensure interoperability, to ensure stable and long-term demand - to give more predictability to our industry - and to avoid duplication". The discussion will focus in particular on defense financing.
To structure the discussion, the President posed a series of questions to his counterparts. He wants to know which defense 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 mobilization of private funding and through which EU instruments? How can we best use the EU budget in the short, medium and long term? Given the significant financing needs, what additional joint options can be considered?
Finally, Mr. Costa wants to know how to further strengthen and deepen existing partnerships and what the objectives and priorities should be with European partners outside the EU.
Defense will be discussed again at the European Council in March, in particular from the point of view of financing, and in June in a broader context with a view to developing a strategy.