Proposal should be presented in June
Because of Trump: Europe is probably already planning NATO without the USA
22.03.2025 – 03:52 a.m.Reading time: 3 min.
In Europe, you are probably preparing for a time when the United States no longer protect the continent. A plan is to be presented at the NATO summit in June.
Some European member states of NATO apparently plan for a time without the support of the United States. According to the “Financial Times” in five to ten years, Europe should take significantly more responsibility for defending the continent. Great Britain, France, the EU and countries from Scandinavia are leaders. The negotiations are still informal, but structured, reports of the newspaper.
The goal is to be a plan to move the financial and military main burden of the alliance to Europe. It is to be presented at the USA’s NATO summit in June. US President Donald Trump had repeatedly asked for more financial commitment from the European NATO partners and also threatened not to assist them in the event of an attack. Trump is primarily concerned with the financial contributions.
There is approval from the former MEP and today’s President of the Paneuropa Union, Bernd Posselt. The CSU politician said in an interview with the “Merkur”: “For decades I have believed that we have to develop into United States of Europe, with a supranational defense union and my own army”. He calls for an EU-based defense community with a clear external and security policy competence. This should go beyond the already announced coalition of the willing.
According to the British government, a “considerable number” of countries has agreed to provide soldiers to secure a possible ceasefire in Ukraine. London expects that “more than 30 countries” would participate in a so -called coalition of the willing in one or the other form, a spokesman for Prime Minister Keir Strander said in front of journalists on Monday.
The United States still has around 80,000 soldiers in Europe, even if there are plans to deduct some. In addition, American nuclear weapons in Germany are stationed as a deterrent in Russia. France had offered several times to continue to tense his nuclear umbrella. At an EU summit, the EU countries had decided to massively increase defense spending-precisely because of the threat from Russia.
According to the “Financial Times” report, there are also concerns about the plans to move away from the United States. They don’t think Trump realizes his trigger plans. However, others doubt that negotiations with the USA still make sense. “You need an agreement with the Americans and it is unclear whether you will be ready to go into it,” said an official of the newspaper. “Can you even trust you to stick to it?”
It is not impossible to go to Europe alone. “Even without the United States, NATO offers a structure for security policy cooperation in Europe,” said Marion Messmer, Senior Research Fellow for International Security at the Chatham House of the newspaper. “There are aspects that have to be replaced if the USA withdraw.”
However, NATO has a structural and infrastructural framework with which the Europeans are very familiar. This could be used if you want to build a structure only for European members.
