Today, during an impromptu press conference on the results of the NATO summit, President trump said about the “huge progress” made by the allies.
He also added that the countries-members of NATO have agreed to increase spending amid the threat of US withdrawal from NATO.
“I think it’s quite possible,” replied trump to the question, if he was going to withdraw the U.S. from NATO, not having received the approval of Congress.
However, there is one problem: the first French President Makron, and then Angela Merkel almost directly denied the claims of trump at the conclusion of an agreement on the expenditure of funds.
Emmanuel macron when he was asked to confirm or deny the statement, trump said that the plans remain unchanged: “All parties have agreed to increase spending on the terms that were negotiated in 2014. All have agreed to abide by its previous commitments. We confirmed fiscal strategy to meet our needs.”
Merkel expressed rather evasively: “We must always determine what else you can do.”
“We need to discuss to what extent we can pay more attention to defense. We reviewed the current situation. But given the debate among the European allies, not only the American side, we need constantly to ask ourselves what else we can do,” said Merkel.
After the G7 meeting, trump did not leave behind nothing but confusion in words.
It is worth noting that only five of the 28 countries-members of NATO, namely the US, Greece, Poland, Estonia and the UK, carry out its goal of spending 2% of GDP on defense. So trump during the presidential term will be to try to force other member countries of the bloc to increase their military spending. The Alliance has increased the overall spending for the first time in 20 years in 2015, but much of this growth in spending occurred in the United States.
Public expenditure on security of countries, % of GDP
The United States spends the largest share of its GDP on defense – 3.61 per cent. The second country is a NATO member that spends the largest share of GDP for defense is Greece (2,38%), according to NATO. But Germany last year spent of 1.19% of GDP, France is 1.78% of GDP.
Canada, Slovenia, Belgium, Spain and Luxembourg – less than 1% of GDP.
NATO recognizes that almost completely dependent on the United States that supply the necessary tools, including tools for exploration, in-flight refueling, ballistic missiles and electronic warfare systems using on-Board equipment.
NATO insists that the limit of 2% of GDP was observed more seriously. In 2014, all member countries of the bloc, which spent less than the stated minimum, had to increase military spending to achieve this goal in ten years.
Germany maintains a significant trade surplus with the United States due to the growth of its exports.
But German officials have repeatedly pointed to the administration trump that when it comes to the automotive industry, which is the center of attention of the President of the German company BMW and Mercedes produce most of its cars for the American market, employing thousands of workers and spending, U.S. exports of cars to the rest of America.
Contrary to the complaints of administration trump the German authorities opposed the European monetary policy of the Central Bank, which weakened the Euro and made German exports cheaper.
Attacks trump led to the fact that in November of 2017, the European Union officially opened a new era of cooperation in the defense sector, involving the implementation of the programme of joint investment in military equipment, research and development, known as “Permanent structured cooperation” (PESCO).
The Ministers of foreign Affairs and defence 23 EU countries signed the Brussels Pact on defence, aimed at strengthening the cooperation within the block. The document will acquire legal force after being approved by the leaders of the bloc at the EU summit in mid-December. From now on, the EU will play a more coherent role in addressing international crises, at the same time reducing dependence on the US.
PESCO is designed to reduce the number of different weapons systems in Europe and promote regional military integration. It also is intended for joint training of military officers. Joint development of EU military capabilities will allow the unit to conduct operations separately or in conjunction with NATO.
Federica Mogherini called the deal “a historic moment in the defence of Europe.” According to her, PESCO is complementary to NATO, which includes 22 of the 28 EU countries. She believes that the EU has the tools to deal with hybrid warfare – the use of conventional weapons, along with propaganda and cyber attacks – the fact that the military Alliance has at its disposal. Foreign Minister of Germany, Sigmar Gabriel, spoke of the agreement as “a great step on the path to self-sufficiency and strengthening security policy and defence the European Union”, which is an important milestone in the development of Europe.
Independent military potential of the EU would weaken NATO and put an end to Europe’s dependence on the United States. For Sweden and Finland, members of the EU, non-NATO Union in the EU may be more preferable than NATO. In the end, European States embroiled in military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan on the basis of solidarity with the US, not because he was hurt the interests of European countries. Only these two examples are enough to give preference to European rather than transatlantic interests in the security sphere. Quite often, these interests do not coincide.
