NATO’s Rutte says Europe can’t defend itself without US; France balks

PARIS — Europeans are “dreaming” if they think the continent can defend itself without the United States, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said in a meeting with members of the European Parliament on Monday, citing the costs of going it alone and the need to build up a nuclear capability.

“If anyone thinks here that the European Union or Europe as a whole can defend itself without the U.S., keep on dreaming,” Rutte said. “You can’t. We can’t. We need each other.”

Rutte’s remarks come as Europe questions whether the U.S. is still a reliable ally following tariff threats by President Donald Trump against NATO allies over Greenland and a national defense strategy prioritizing homeland defense and the Western Hemisphere. Last year’s U.S. National Security Strategy called on Europe to take primary responsibility for its own defense.

The NATO chief prompted pushback from France, the European Union’s only nuclear power, with Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot saying Europeans need to take their own security in hand through a European pillar within NATO.

Several security policy analysts said Europe has no choice, because the U.S. can no longer be trusted to come to its aid.

“No, dear Mark Rutte. Europeans can and must take charge of their own security,” Barrot said in a post on X . “Even the United States agrees. This is the European pillar of NATO.”

European Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius earlier this month called on countries to consider how they would create a European pillar in NATO if the U.S. does shift from Europe, and what would replace the 100,000-strong American standing military force on the continent.

U.S. President Donald Trump displays a rendering of his proposed White House ballroom as he meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (L) in the Oval Office of the White House on Oct. 22, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

“I would rather say Rutte should stop dreaming that the U.S. is willing to defend Europe and a reliable partner to do so,” said Gesine Weber, a senior researcher at the Center for Security Studies of ETH Zürich, in a post on Bluesky . “My analysis is that Europeans are not dreaming about that, they are assessing how to make it reality because there’s no other option.”

Rutte called a European pillar “a bit of an empty word,” saying it might create a lot of duplication, while countries would have to find the men and women in uniform. “It will be on top of what is happening already, and it will make things more complicated, I think Putin will love it,” Rutte said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“This is absurd,” said Max Bergmann, director of the Europe, Russia and Eurasia program at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, in a response to Rutte’s comments on Bluesky . “Europe can certainly deter Russia and defend itself if it’s focused and determined.”

Bergmann said that while “perpetuating a sense of European helplessness may help Rutte bureaucratically,” doing so is wrong, prevents action and is “willfully blind: the U.S. ain’t coming to defend Europe.”

The NATO secretary general’s comments about duplication echo concerns of previous U.S. administrations, which encouraged Europe to spend more on defense, while pushing back on a European pillar that could duplicate NATO capabilities or weaken the alliance’s role.

If Europe wants to go it alone, “forget that you can ever get there with 5%” spending of GDP on defense, the current target for the alliance, according to the NATO secretary general, saying spending would be 10% instead.

“You have to build up your own nuclear capability, that costs billions and billions of euros, in that scenario you would lose the ultimate guarantor of our freedom, which is the U.S. nuclear umbrella,” Rutte said.

French President Emmanuel Macron last year floated the idea of extending France’s nuclear deterrence to cover European partners, and has said he plans to elaborate on an updated nuclear doctrine at the start of this year. Germany’s Vice-Chancellor Lars Klingbeil told Der Spiegel last week he was open to talks with France about extending the nuclear umbrella.

An autonomous European defense without the U.S. or other non-European allies would mean a “drastic increase” of defense budgets, said Theo Francken, Belgium’s Defence Minister, in a post on X . Creating and maintaining a nuclear umbrella would cost hundreds of billions, he said.

Rutte said the U.S. also needs the alliance to stay safe, by keeping the Arctic, Atlantic area and Europe secure. “So the U.S. has every interest in NATO, as much as Canada and the European NATO allies,” the secretary general said.

Not all analysts are convinced.

“The head of NATO can’t say in public that Europe must prepare for a world where the U.S. is no longer there to protect it,” said Noah Barkin, a visiting senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States in Berlin, in a post on Bluesky . “But it does – as rapidly and determinedly as possible.”

Meanwhile, Rutte said the flow of American military hardware to Ukraine and paid for by NATO allies and partners is “absolutely vital,” with no alternative. He called for flexibility on how the country can spend its €90 billion loan package from the EU, and for the bloc not to be “overly restrictive with buy-EU caveats.”

“Europe is now building its defense industry, that is vital, but it cannot at the moment provide nearly enough of what Ukraine needs to defend itself today, and to deter tomorrow,” Rutte said. “So, as you take this loan forward, please, I encourage you to keep Ukraine’s needs first in focus.”

The secretary general said that if Ukraine can buy equipment from Europe or its own defense industrial base, that’s “fantastic” or “great,” respectively, but that without the flow of weapons from the U.S., “we cannot keep Ukraine in the fight,” with the Americans providing essential interceptors for air-defense systems.

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

巴黎——北约秘书长马克·吕特周一在与欧洲议会议员的会晤中表示，如果欧洲人认为欧洲大陆可以在没有美国的情况下保卫自己，那他们就是在“做梦”。他指出，单打独斗的代价很高，而且欧洲需要建立核能力。

“如果有人认为欧盟或整个欧洲可以在没有美国的情况下保卫自己，那就继续做梦吧，”吕特说。“你们做不到。我们也做不到。我们需要彼此。”

鲁特发表上述言论之际，欧洲正质疑美国是否仍是可靠的盟友。此前，美国总统特朗普因格陵兰岛问题威胁要对北约盟国征收关税，并提出了一项优先考虑国土安全和西半球的国防战略。去年，美国发布的《国家安全战略》呼吁欧洲承担起自身防务的主要责任。

北约秘书长的言论引发了欧盟唯一核大国法国的反对，法国外交部长让-诺埃尔·巴罗表示，欧洲人需要通过在北约内部建立欧洲支柱来掌握自己的安全。

多位安全政策分析人士表示，欧洲别无选择，因为美国已不再值得信任，不会向其提供援助。

“不，亲爱的马克·吕特。欧洲人能够而且必须掌握自己的安全，”巴罗特在X网站上发帖说。“就连美国也同意这一点。这是北约的欧洲支柱。”

欧洲防务专员安德留斯·库比留斯本月早些时候呼吁各国考虑，如果美国真的撤离欧洲，他们将如何在北约中建立一个欧洲支柱，以及什么将取代驻扎在欧洲大陆的10万美国常备军。

2025年10月22日，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在华盛顿特区白宫椭圆形办公室会见北约秘书长马克·吕特（左）时，展示了他提议的白宫宴会厅效果图。（图片来源：Alex Wong/Getty Images）

“我倒觉得吕特应该停止幻想美国愿意保卫欧洲，并找到一个可靠的伙伴来做到这一点，”苏黎世联邦理工学院安全研究中心高级研究员格西娜·韦伯在Bluesky网站上发表文章说。“我的分析是，欧洲人并非在做梦，他们正在评估如何将梦想变为现实，因为别无选择。”

吕特称“欧洲支柱”这个概念“有点空洞”，并表示这可能会造成大量重复工作，而且各国还得自己寻找军人。“这会在现有基础上再添乱，让事情变得更加复杂，我想普京会乐见其成，”吕特说道，他指的是俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京。

“这太荒谬了，”战略与国际研究中心欧洲、俄罗斯和欧亚项目主任马克斯·伯格曼在回应吕特关于蓝天计划的评论时说道。“如果欧洲目标明确、意志坚定，它当然可以威慑俄罗斯并保卫自身。”

伯格曼表示，虽然“让欧洲人感到无助可能会在官僚层面帮助吕特”，但这样做是错误的，会阻碍行动，而且是“故意视而不见：美国不会来保卫欧洲”。

北约秘书长关于重复建设的评论与美国前几届政府的担忧不谋而合，这些政府鼓励欧洲增加国防开支，同时反对建立可能与北约能力重复或削弱北约作用的欧洲支柱。

北约秘书长表示，如果欧洲想要单干，“就别指望靠 GDP 的 5%”就能实现目标，这是北约目前的目标，并称国防开支应该提高到 10%。

“你必须建立自己的核能力，这需要花费数十亿欧元，在这种情况下，你将失去我们自由的最终保障，那就是美国的核保护伞，”吕特说。

法国总统马克龙去年曾提出将法国的核威慑范围扩大到欧洲伙伴国的想法，并表示计划在今年年初详细阐述更新后的核战略。德国副总理拉尔斯·克林贝伊上周告诉《明镜周刊》，他愿意与法国就扩大核保护伞进行对话。

比利时国防部长西奥·弗兰肯在X网站上发帖称，如果没有美国或其他非欧洲盟友的参与，欧洲的自主防御将意味着国防预算的“大幅增加”。他表示，建立和维持核保护伞将耗资数千亿欧元。

吕特表示，美国也需要北约来保障自身安全，维护北极、大西洋地区和欧洲的安全。“因此，美国与加拿大和欧洲北约盟国一样，都对北约有着切身利益，”秘书长说道。

并非所有分析师都信服。

“北约领导人不能公开表示欧洲必须为美国不再保护它的世界做好准备，”柏林德国马歇尔基金会访问高级研究员诺亚·巴金在Bluesky网站上发表的一篇文章中写道。“但事实的确如此——而且是以尽可能迅速和坚定的方式。”

与此同时，吕特表示，由北约盟国和伙伴国出资向乌克兰提供美国军事装备“至关重要”，别无选择。他呼吁欧盟在乌克兰如何使用其900亿欧元的贷款方面保持灵活性，并要求欧盟不要“过度限制购买欧盟产品”。

“欧洲正在发展国防工业，这至关重要，但目前它提供的国防装备远远不足以满足乌克兰今天的自卫需求，也无法满足未来的威慑需求，”吕特说。“因此，在推进这笔贷款的过程中，我恳请你们始终将乌克兰的需求放在首位。”

秘书长表示，如果乌克兰能够从欧洲或本国国防工业基地购买装备，那分别是“极好”或“很棒”，但如果没有来自美国的武器供应，“我们就无法让乌克兰继续战斗”，因为美国为防空系统提供了至关重要的拦截器。

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。