Can Europe defend itself without the help of the USA? NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte rules this out. He fixes it at a certain point.
January 27, 2026, 9:30 a.m01/27/2026, 09:38
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte rules out that Europe will be able to defend itself without US help in the foreseeable future. “Keep dreaming,” Rutte told EU parliamentarians in Brussels on Monday.
“We can’t do it.”
In such a scenario, Europe would lose the US nuclear umbrella, argued the NATO Secretary General and added with an ironic undertone: “Good luck.”
Mark Rutte during his meeting with Donald Trump at the WEF.Image: keystone
In Europe, in view of the threats from Washington in the dispute over Greenland, which belongs to Denmark, calls for an end to dependence on the USA had become louder, including in the defense sector. With Rutte’s help, the dispute with US President Donald Trump was initially resolved at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Trump had previously repeatedly called for the US to take over Greenland. He cited security interests as his justification and pointed to increased activities by Russia and China in the region.
Rutte: Then “ten percent” would be necessary instead of five
Rutte said that if Europe really wanted to “go on alone”, countries’ defense spending would have to increase to ten percent and not to five percent as agreed at the NATO summit last year. Building up our own nuclear capabilities costs “billions and billions of euros”.
Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (CDU) was more optimistic about Europe’s defense preparedness. “We are on the way there by deciding to spend five percent of our GDP on defense,” said Wadephul at a press conference with his Swedish colleague Maria Malmer Stenergard in Stockholm.
“If we do that, we will of course be able to defend ourselves conventionally.”
However, the development of nuclear capabilities is “in fact an even more complicated question”. Europe is “reliant on the existence of the American nuclear umbrella for a considerable period of time.” That’s why Europe must do both: “really commit to greater European independence” and at the same time “always ensure that the defense alliance with the USA remains alive.”
Rutte: “Putin would love it”
During his conversation with members of the parliamentary committees for defense and foreign affairs, Rutte emphasized that the USA also needs the Europeans for its own security, including in the Arctic.
“The USA has just as much interest in NATO as Canada and the European NATO allies.”
According to Rutte, the recent agreement with the US on Greenland involves a two-pronged approach. Rutte told MEPs that they had agreed on two strands of work. The first provides for NATO as a whole to take on more responsibility for the defense of the Arctic. The aim is to deny Russia and China access to the region. The second strand concerns direct talks between the USA, Denmark and Greenland, in which the alliance cannot be involved.
The former Dutch Prime Minister also appealed to the EU states to act flexibly when using the 90 billion euro loan for Ukraine. The European Union should not insist at all costs that the funds would only be used to purchase defense equipment from the EU under the motto “Buy EU,” Rutte tells MEPs. Europe is currently expanding its defense industry. But at the moment it cannot deliver nearly enough of what Ukraine needs “today for defense and tomorrow for deterrence”.
The NATO Secretary General was skeptical about the idea of a European army. A kind of European defense force in addition to the national armed forces would lead to “a lot of duplication,” warned Rutte. “It will make things more complicated.” Russian President Vladimir Putin “would love it.” (t online)