NATO chief continues to praise Trump: “I know I irritate you”
Published 22.53
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte defends his praise of Donald Trump.
And continues to love bomb the president.
– He does many good things.
Europe cannot defend itself without the US – and those who believe so can “keep dreaming”.
That’s what NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said at a question time in the EU Parliament on Monday, Reuters reports.
If Europe were to form its own defense alliance, without the US, it would play right into the hands of Russia and Vladimir Putin, he says.
“Good luck”
Europe’s defense spending would need to be increased sharply, with an additional need to buy its own nuclear weapons capacity, and spend “billions of euros”, according to Rutte.
– Then you would lose the ultimate guarantee of our freedom – the US nuclear umbrella. So, yes…good luck.
Mark Rutte during question time in the EU Parliament. Photo: Virginia Mayo /AP/TT
Rutte also says that "there will always be a very strong conventional American military presence in Europe".
Has received criticism
Mark Rutte has been criticized for being too accommodating towards Trump. Last summer, he received a lot of attention when he called the American president "daddy".
At the same time, it was after a meeting with Rutte in Davos on Wednesday that Trump announced that he was backing down on tariffs against Sweden and seven other NATO countries that recently sent soldiers to Greenland.
During Monday's question time, Rutte defended his relationship with Trump.
- Listen, listen - if someone does good things, and President Trump does a lot of good things, in my opinion... I know I'm irritating a lot of you again, but I like it.
Among other things, he mentions that it is thanks to Trump that NATO countries reached the goal of spending at least 2 percent of GDP on defense by the end of 2025.
– It would never, never, never have happened without Trump.
Inga kommentarer:
Skicka en kommentar