NATO's future

Rubio downplays sending soldiers home from Germany

Donald Trump decided last week to send 5,000 American soldiers home from Germany, after Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized the US war on Iran.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio seems to downplay the decision during his visit to Rome, CNN reports. He says, among other things, that the reduction in military presence in Germany was "already underway".

- The soldiers represent less than 14 percent of our total presence there. It was already predetermined. In fact, we only went back to the same level we had in 2022.

He also said that Trump has not yet made a decision on whether more soldiers will be called home from European countries.

Former NATO chief: The alliance is falling apart

NATO is falling apart. This is what the former Secretary General of the defense alliance, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, says in an interview with the German Welt.

– President Trump has raised so many doubts about his stance on Article 5 and the defense of Europe that Europeans can only draw one conclusion: We must stand on our own two feet and be able to defend the continent ourselves.

Europe needs a new defense coalition – neither the EU nor NATO can currently fill that role, according to Fogh Rasmussen, who led NATO between 2009 and 2014.

It should consist of countries that meet the five percent target, and individual states should not be able to veto military operations, he adds.