Stoltenberg warns: EU cannot defend Europe alone

Some EU leaders are pushing for the bloc to gain more “strategic autonomy,” although many analysts believe the move would pave the way for competition between Brussels and Washington.

Speaking at the College of Europe, Mr. Stoltenberg noted that the EU’s NATO members pay only one fifth of the Alliance’s total cost to defend Europe.

“The European Union, by spending more on defense, investing in new capabilities and reducing the fragmentation of the defense industry, is not only good for European security,” he said.

“It’s also good for transatlantic security,” Stoltenberg said, appearing alongside the university’s director, former EU chief of diplomacy Federica Mogherini.

“But the EU cannot defend Europe alone. More than 90 percent. All EU citizens live in NATO countries, but EU members cover only 20% of NATO defense spending.” said the head of the Alliance.

According to him, although 21 EU members belong to NATO, its vulnerable wings are often protected by non-EU allies who spend more on defense.

“It’s not just about money, it’s about geography,” Stoltenberg said, urging the two Brussels-based international organizations to work closely together.

“In the north, Iceland and Norway are the gateway to the Arctic; in the south, Turkey borders Syria and Iraq, ”continued the Secretary-General.

“Well, in the west, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom connect both sides of the Atlantic,” he added.

The European Commission, the main executive of the bloc, seeks to increase the geopolitical role of the bloc through an increasingly determined foreign policy and the development of a European defense industry.

Some EU leaders are taking an even tougher line, notably French President Emmanuel Macron, who has questioned whether NATO’s strategy has led to “brain death” in the post-Cold War developing world.

But other leaders, including Stoltenberg, see the election of US President Joe Biden as an opportunity to resume the transatlantic ties that suffered under the presidency of his predecessor, Donald Trump.