NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Europe cannot defend itself without the United States, rejecting calls for the continent to stand on its own militarily as tensions flared inside the alliance over Greenland.
Speaking before the European Parliament, Rutte dismissed arguments for European self-reliance in defense, saying the scale of US military power could not be replaced. “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,” he said.
NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a US-led military alliance formed in 1949 whose members are bound by a collective defense clause under Article Five that treats an attack on one country as an attack on all. The United States provides the alliance’s largest share of military capability, funding, and nuclear deterrence, placing Washington at the center of Europe’s security framework.
Rutte’s remarks followed renewed strain in transatlantic relations after US President Donald Trump threatened to seize Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark. Trump later backed off after talks with Rutte, but the episode intensified debate in Europe over reducing dependence on US military backing.
Rutte said any attempt to replace US protection would require an unprecedented shift in European defense policy. He said European countries would need to raise defense spending from the five percent NATO target agreed last year to 10 percent and spend “billions and billions” to build nuclear capabilities. He said Europe would also need its own nuclear umbrella. “So hey, good luck,” he said.
Despite his warning, Rutte said the United States remained fully committed to NATO’s mutual defense obligations. He said Washington expected European allies to continue raising military spending. “They need a secure Euro-Atlantic, and they also need a secure Europe. So the US has every interest in NATO,” he said.
Rutte again credited Trump for pressuring European governments to increase defense budgets and rejected proposals for a standalone European force that could replace US troops stationed on the continent.
France pushed back on Rutte’s assessment. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Europeans “can and must take responsibility for their own security,” underscoring divisions inside the bloc over how far Europe should move toward strategic independence.
On Greenland, Rutte said NATO would assume greater responsibility for Arctic defense but said decisions on any US military presence rested with Danish and Greenlandic authorities. “I have no mandate to negotiate on behalf of Denmark, so I didn’t, and I will not,” he said.
Rutte warned that any attempt to redraw control over Greenland would complicate global security. “It will make things more complicated. I think Russian President Vladimir Putin will love it. So think again,” he said.
He also recalled earlier disputes with Trump over NATO casualties in Afghanistan, saying allied losses were often downplayed. “For every two American soldiers who paid the ultimate price, one soldier of an ally or a partner, a NATO ally or a partner country, did not return home,” he said.
The remarks sharpened divisions inside Europe as calls for strategic autonomy continue to collide with the reality of US military dominance within NATO.
