'Europe Can't Defend Itself Without US': Mark Rutte Warns As Greenland Row Strains NATO Alliance

Last Updated:January 27, 2026, 08:08 IST

NATO chief Mark Rutte warns Europe that it can't defend itself without US support. This comes amid rising tensions over Trump's plan to acquire Greenland.

NATO chief Mark Rutte. (mage: AFP/File)

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Monday that Europe lacks the capacity to defend itself without US military backing and would need to increase defence spending dramatically to stand on its own. Speaking to EU lawmakers in Brussels, Rutte dismissed the idea of European self-sufficiency in security, stressing that Europe and the United States “need each other."

“If anyone thinks here … that the European Union or Europe as a whole can defend itself without the US, keep on dreaming. You can’t," Rutte said, news agency AP reported.

His comments come amid growing strains within the alliance, fueled in part by US President Donald Trump’s recent threats to acquire Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO member Denmark. Trump also warned of new tariffs against Greenland’s European supporters though he later dropped his threats after a loosely defined “framework" agreement on the resource-rich island was reached with Rutte’s involvement.

NATO’s 32 members are bound by Article 5, the alliance’s collective defence commitment, which requires allies to come to one another’s aid if attacked. At the NATO summit in The Hague in July, European members — with the exception of Spain — along with Canada agreed to meet Trump’s long-standing demand to match US defence spending levels. They committed to allocating 3.5 percent of GDP to core military spending and an additional 1.5 percent to security infrastructure by 2035.

Rutte warned, however, that even those targets would fall short if Europe chose to act independently. He said a self-reliant Europe would need to spend closer to 10 percent of GDP and develop its own nuclear deterrent at enormous cost.

“If you really want to go it alone," Rutte said, adding, “forget that you can ever get there with 5%. It will be 10%. You have to build up your own nuclear capability. That costs billions and billions of euros."

While France has pushed for greater European “strategic autonomy," Rutte cautioned that without Washington, Europe “would lose the ultimate guarantor of our freedom, which is the US nuclear umbrella. So, hey, good luck!"

News world 'Europe Can't Defend Itself Without US': Mark Rutte Warns As Greenland Row Strains NATO Alliance

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