NATO defense ministers are meeting this Thursday in Brussels to prepare for the next Alliance summit, scheduled for July 7 and 8 in the Turkish capital, Ankara, in a context where European partners are analyzing how to compensate for the gap that the United States will leave when it proceeds to readjust the military capabilities it has assigned to the European continent.
Washington has informed its allies that it plans to allocate a significant portion of the military assets currently deployed in Europe and Canada to other areas of the planet, including the Indo-Pacific, thus reducing its weight in the "NATO Force Model," the instrument that sets the personnel and resources available in case of attack or conflict.
US Deputy Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby already outlined the concept of "NATO 3.0" at the previous meeting of defense ministers in February, meaning an Alliance that moves beyond European dependence on the United States and opts for a "burden-sharing" that allows the Euro-Atlantic bloc to assume responsibility for its own conventional defense.
Given this scenario, European allies have begun to coordinate to progressively replace US forces, a process in which Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, and "quite a few more countries" will participate, according to various sources told Europa Press, who insist that this reallocation should not be confused with the withdrawal of 5,000 US soldiers from Germany announced by Donald Trump in retaliation for critical remarks by Friedrich Merz about the war in Iran.
Washington's adjustment, these sources emphasize, will be gradual and will focus on operational resources and capabilities of conventional forces, without affecting the nuclear component that the United States maintains on European territory, which will continue under Washington's nuclear umbrella.
RUTTE: "THE UNITED STATES REMAINS COMMITTED TO NATO"
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has defended the US troop reallocation plans, considering it "a sign of success" of the organization's evolution and has stressed that, far from being "a problem," it is positive that European allies "share the responsibility" for the continent's security more equitably.
"It is completely logical that Europeans assume a greater part of the burden. It is peculiar that we still need so much help from another country, eight hours' flight from here, with 350 million people, to defend ourselves against 140 million," he pointed out, suggesting that a Europe with 600 million inhabitants should have no difficulty facing an eventual attack from Russia.
The former Dutch prime minister specified that European allies and Canada are "willing, ready, and able to do more" and that, on that basis, "the United States has adjusted its commitments to the allied Forces model" because "that is precisely what NATO 3.0 is about."
"It is not about where the forces and assets are currently located, but about who would do what if our defense plans were activated. Historically, this depended too much on the United States. Now, Washington has adjusted its committed contributions and other allies have taken a greater role. And that is fair," he continued in his argument.
Rutte reiterated that "the United States has made it clear that it is committed to NATO," giving as an example that it will maintain its nuclear umbrella despite the readjustment of conventional capabilities linked to the Alliance. When asked about the specific scope of these changes, he avoided offering numerical data, arguing that NATO must not "make its enemies wiser" about its military plans.
PREPARATION FOR THE ANKARA SUMMIT
In this context, the 32 NATO Defense Ministers will use Thursday's meeting to advance the preparation of the Ankara leaders' summit, reviewing the capability objectives of each member state and the degree of compliance with the commitments made last summer in The Hague to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2035.
The day will begin with a meeting of the NATO Nuclear Planning Group, followed by a session of the North Atlantic Council focused on preparations for the meeting in Turkey. In addition, a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, co-chaired by Germany and the United Kingdom, will be held with the aim of studying new ways to strengthen military and political aid to Kyiv.
This coalition, which brings together almost 60 countries from different regions, committed in February to mobilize 30 billion euros for Ukraine before the end of the year and, by mid-April, had already raised 21 billion euros, awaiting the evolution of the most recent contributions.
RESIGNATION OF THE BRITISH MINISTER
The Brussels meeting also comes just days after the resignation of former British Defense Minister John Healey following a dispute over military spending, amid criticism of his own government for not allocating the necessary resources to the defense of the United Kingdom.
After his departure became known, Rutte acknowledged that the increase in military spending agreed upon by the allies "is not easy" because "in the end, concessions always have to be made with other expenses that are also important."
Other European officials, such as the Italian Defense Minister, Guido Crosetto, expressed their support for Healey, stating that he "agreed with almost everything" for which he had resigned and admitting that he himself had come to believe that his government was not sufficiently undertaking the budgetary effort in defense.
Healey's resignation and Crosetto's public support highlight that the Alliance's ministers, including those from the most influential countries, face strong pressure to meet the goal of increasing defense spending to 5% of GDP, of which 3.5% will be allocated to strictly military investment and the remaining 1.5% to defense-related items.
Allied sources point out that there is an open debate about the difficulty of increasing spending, although they acknowledge that this will not necessarily translate into greater flexibility for member states, taking into account NATO's position in the current geopolitical scenario, marked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the war in the Middle East, among other hotspots.