BRUSSELS (Realist English). NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has come under heavy criticism after publicly dismissing the idea that Europe could defend itself without the United States, telling EU lawmakers that any such ambition amounted to wishful thinking.
“If anyone thinks that the European Union, or Europe as a whole, can defend itself without the US — keep on dreaming. You can’t. We can’t. We need each other,” Rutte told members of the European Parliament on Monday.
His comments followed weeks of heightened transatlantic tension sparked by US President Donald Trump’s attempt to pressure Denmark over Greenland, a dispute that briefly pushed the nearly eight-decade-old alliance into crisis before Rutte helped broker a deal on Arctic security.
Rutte argued that replacing US security guarantees would require European states to spend as much as 10% of GDP on defence — double NATO’s current target — and to develop their own nuclear deterrent. “You would lose the ultimate guarantor of our freedom, which is the US nuclear umbrella,” he said. “So, hey, good luck.”
The remarks quickly spread on social media and reignited a long-running debate over Europe’s reliance on Washington. While the European Commission avoided directly rebuking Rutte, its chief spokesperson Paula Pinho stressed that Brussels remained focused on strengthening resilience and reducing strategic dependencies, including in defence and security.
Pinho pointed to progress in cutting reliance on Russian fossil fuels and said similar efforts were under way in defence and critical raw materials. She cited a recent speech by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who called for greater European independence in response to rising geopolitical instability and flagged an upcoming security strategy with a strong Arctic focus.
The strongest pushback came from France, a leading proponent of European “strategic autonomy”. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot rejected Rutte’s argument outright. “Europeans can and must take charge of their own security,” he wrote on X, adding that even the United States supported a stronger European pillar within NATO.
France’s junior Europe minister Benjamin Haddad said Europe had no alternative but to accelerate defence integration, pointing out that European countries — not the US — are Ukraine’s largest donors. “We see threats coming even from American allies against the sovereignty of Denmark,” he said, arguing that Europeans already possess the tools needed to defend themselves.
Criticism also came from the European Parliament. French MEP Nathalie Loiseau called Rutte’s intervention “a disgraceful moment,” accusing him of trying to curry favour with Trump at Europe’s expense. “NATO needs to rebalance between US and European efforts,” she said.
Former European Council president Charles Michel took a more personal swipe, mocking Rutte for previously referring to Trump as “daddy”. “Europe will defend itself. And Donald Trump is not my daddy,” Michel said, calling for leadership and vision rather than “submission and fatalism”.
The controversy underscores widening divisions within Europe over how far and how fast the EU should move toward defence autonomy — and how openly that ambition should be articulated while the US remains NATO’s dominant military power.