MORE EUROPEAN NATO
Sude Nur AKBULUT tarafındanUS and European defense ministers agreed that NATO needs to transform into a more “European” structure in order to survive and maintain its effectiveness. However, it is believed that the parties' justifications for this transformation do not entirely coincide.
“What is needed is a NATO 3.0,” said US Deputy Secretary of Defense Elridge Colby, addressing NATO Defense Ministers in Brussels. He stated, “It requires our allies to make much greater efforts to assume primary responsibility for the conventional defense of Europe.” Colby further added, “Europe must deploy the majority of the forces needed to deter and, if necessary, defeat conventional aggression in Europe.” As these statements clearly indicate, NATO now seeks consensus in Europe and emphasizes the need for the necessary steps to achieve this.
The ministers meeting in Brussels have shown that they have not only listened to this message but have also begun to take responsibility.
Speaking after the meeting, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said, “This was one of the most critical meetings I have ever attended.” Rutte added, “Today we also witnessed something else; a real shift in mindset, a shared vision. A much stronger European defence within NATO.”
Speaking before the meeting, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said: “The US has shouldered the lion's share of the responsibility for Europe's conventional deterrence and defense. Now it is time for Europeans to gradually take over this more in the coming years. This is perfectly normal and natural. I understand and support this trend.” Pistorius added, “To maintain NATO's transatlantic character, it is necessary to make it more European, to increase European responsibility.”
The Defense Ministers of the other countries attending the meeting also supported this view. As a result, European allies have assumed a greater leadership role in NATO's command structure.
On the other hand, the U.S. assumed control of the Allied Maritime Command and continued its leadership of the Allied Land Command and Allied Air Command. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte stated that it was extremely important for Europe to assume three joint force commands. Mark Rutte said this would always secure a strong conventional U.S. presence in Europe and that it was a very logical division of labor in an alliance where the U.S. economically accounts for more than half of NATO's total.
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Sude Nur AKBULUT
