Europe reacts angrily to Trump’s comments about a Russian attack, but only Poland and the UK spend more than 2% of GDP on defense

Donald Trump, former president of the United States and possible future president, left a bad taste in the mouths of Europeans during his first term, but the possibility of a second can cause an unprecedented crisis since American independence from England in 1776.

Trump assured over the weekend that he will encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin to attack European countries that do not spend at least 2% of GDP on defense, the political commitment without further legal value that the 31 NATO member countries have and that half is not enough.

Since the creation of the Atlantic Alliance after World War II, Europeans have taken this for granted His safety was guaranteed ultimately, by American military power, including its nuclear arsenal. But Trump is a disruptor, destroying foreign policy that political changes in Washington have not altered for decades. His statements (“No, I wouldn’t protect you, on the contrary, I would encourage him (Putin) to do what he wants”) has provoked a cataract of reactions at the highest levels.

NATO Secretary General, former Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, told his country’s magazine that “any suggestion that allies will not defend each other harms our security” and that he hopes the United States “remains a ally”. who wins the presidential elections.”

The European Foreign Minister, the Spanish-Argentine Josep Borrell, said this on Monday “NATO cannot be an à la carte alliance”in reference to the fact that the commitment to common defense cannot depend on the color of the government in power.

NATO released its latest spending data in September. From them we can deduce that it has increased since 2015 (Russia forcibly annexed the Ukrainian province of Crimea in 2014) and that in 2023 it did so by 8.3%, higher than the increase in general public spending. But countries the size of France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Spain or the Netherlands do not reach 2% of military spending in relation to GDP. And many of those that surpass it are militarily tiny, like Latvia, Lithuania or Estonia.

Among large and medium-sized European countries, only Poland and the United Kingdom spend more than 2% of GDP on defense, which is the only country in all of NATO, with Turkey reducing military spending in 2023 Considering the total numbers, US military spending represents almost two-thirds of the total of all NATO member states. Of the $1.1 trillion spent on defense in 2023, $743 billion came from the United States and $356 billion from the other 30 member states.

Since Sunday there have been dozens of reactions. The influential Frresident of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Bundestag, Norbert Röttgen said that “Europe will soon have no choice but to defend itself, because the opposite would be surrender”. The President of the European Council (speaking on behalf of the 27 governments of the European Union) stated that “reckless statements on NATO security and solidarity in Article 5 (the article of the NATO treaty binding all its members to defend the attacked countries) ally) They only serve Putin’s interests”.

Trump’s threats revive the debate the European Defense never launched. EU governments have joint plans to develop cutting-edge weapons, such as the next fighter plane.

They also organize joint military peacekeeping missions, for example in the Balkans. But the Armed Forces of each country They are of completely national jurisdiction.

Does the European Union need a military pillar outside of NATO? not depending on the mood of the current president of the United States? Or, on the contrary, as some countries believe, is it sufficient to continue purchasing weapons from the United States to anchor them in Europe? If the French nuclear weapon (the only one among the 27) protect the entire bloc or just France? Trump will accelerate all these debates in the coming months.