2025-06-24 12:45
publication
2025-06-24 12:45
We see the shift of the burden associated with providing military support from Ukraine from the United States more to Canada and European countries, and this is fair – said on Tuesday the Secretary General of NATO Mark Rutte before the summit of the alliance in Hague.
Leaders of NATO Member States will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday in The Hague to discuss the challenges facing the Alliance. The main topic will be to increase the financial obligations of NATO countries on defense to 5 percent. GDP.
Rutte said on Tuesday before the summit that constantly – especially from January, when Donald Trump took the position of the US president – he was asked about the involvement of the United States in NATO. “My message to European colleagues is so that they stop worrying about it,” he noted.
“The US president and the highest US authorities are completely involved in NATO. However, this is associated with some expectation – that we will finally deal with this huge pebble in the shoe, with this irritating factor, which is the fact that we do not spend enough as European countries and Canada” – emphasized Rutte.
“So stop (…) to worry about the United States, because there is no reason to do so. There are other things that we should worry about,” he said. According to him, European countries should make sure that they implement investment plans and their support for Ukraine remains high. “Fortunately, it is so” – emphasized NATO Secretary General.
Rutte argued with the statement that due to tensions in the Middle East Ukraine goes to the background. In his opinion, it would be a problem if an alliance like NATO could not cope with two challenges at once.
He added that NATO copes with both things, maintaining support for Ukraine at the same or even higher level than last year. “Europeans and Canadians undertook to provide Ukraine this year 35 billion (euro – PAP) military support. Last year it was just over 50 billion all year round. So it was not half a year, and we already have 35 billion” – he emphasized.
“We also see a shift of weight from the United States more to Canada and Europe, which I consider to be fair. We take over most of this burden as Europeans and Canadians from the United States,” he said. (PAP)
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