opinions
Arne O. Holm comments
When NATO's Secretary General Undermines the Alliance's Credibility
Comment: How much do you really get for 574 billion dollar? Very little, if NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is to be believed. “Keep dreaming,” he said in the European Parliament earlier this year.
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This is a comment written by a member of the editorial staff. All views expressed are the writer's own.
His analysis concerned a European defence without the US.
A issue that becomes relevant every time the American president talks about NATO and Europe. Most recently because he is angry with Germany for not wanting to take part in the American attacks on Iran. as a consequence, American forces are to be withdrawn from Germany.
Personal vendetta
Not as a military-strategic move, but as a personal vendetta. Like most things are.
Donald Trump is known for not fulfilling his election promises.
The same can be said of his threats. He does not “fulfill” those either.
Bouncing around like corn in a popcorn pot.
Tariff rates bounce around like corn in a popcorn pot. The threats to wipe out entire civilisations vary several times a day.
Secretary General Mark Rutte is one of those who has to deal with the threats when they are directed at Europe. One of the Secretary General’s prioritised strategies is to talk down Europe’s ability to defend itself against a possible attack from Russia. In the NATO family, he has company.
It has become an incantation that is often repeated.
There is no doubt that there is a difference between a European and Canadian NATO, and a NATO with full backing from the US.
A dramatic increase
But are we really as helpless as Mark Rutte and others would have us believe?
Since 2021, the year before Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine, European and Canadian defence spending has increased from 350 billion to 574 billion dollar. From 2024 to 2025, the increase was 20 percent.
When Russia occupied the Krym Peninsula in 2014, only three of the member states met the goal of spending at least two percent of GDP on defence. Today, all member states have exceeded this goal. In addition, NATO has expanded by two new countries, Sweden and Finland.
To put the spending into perspective. The European NATO members together with Canada spend the equivalent of three Norwegian state budgets on defence.
A not insignificant portion of these funds is already being used to defend Europe against Russia. In Ukraine.
Helpless
Putting a figure on Russia’s military spending is more complicated. Officially, the budget stands at around 150 billion dollar. The highest unofficial figures are far higher, but still nowhere near half of what Europe and Canada spend.
Even so, NATO’s Secretary General insists that Europe is helpless in a conflict with Russia without the United States.
That the almost continuous Western military exercises in the Arctic have exposed a defenceless Europe.
That is, of course, not correct. Nor is it a sensible strategy to continuously talk down Europe’s defence capability.
Ukraine was attacked in February 2022. The country is still defending itself, even with what has been described as military progress in recent weeks.
Trump is not known for following through on his threats.
Rutte’s way
Rutte’s way is not only about grovelling to Trump, but is also used to create acceptance among Europe’s citizens for the Armed Forces taking an ever larger share of public spending.
It is a strategy that could quickly backfire on Mark Rutte and NATO.
The European population needs to know that NATO has both the ability to deter and to defend itself.
That government loans, tax revenues and reduced welfare provisions actually contribute to security. That security does not depend on Donald Trump’s self-absorption and daily mood.
Or, to put it another way: that we are getting something in return for the nearly NOK 6,000 billion that is currently being spent on defence.
