Europe should reduce its dependence on US through 'Europeanization' of NATO – expert
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Defence and Security Cooperation at NATO, Gerlinde Niehus, stated this in an interview with Ukrinform.
"NATO's credibility has been significantly undermined by recurrent statements from Donald Trump questioning the commitment to Article 5, NATO's collective defence clause. He repeated this very recently when he did not get instant European support for his illegal war against Iran," Niehus said.
As a result, "NATO's deterrence and defence credibility has suffered. This makes it all the more important for Europeans to work towards a comprehensive and systematic 'Europeanization' of NATO – gradually replacing American forces, capabilities and structures so that NATO evolves into a more European-led organization, together with Canada," she added.
In her view, if this does not happen, "Europe will remain overly dependent on the United States, which no longer behaves as a reliable partner."
Commenting on the idea of a European Defence Union, the expert noted that current plans in this regard are "relatively limited, focusing on areas such as a single market for defence, joint production, and capability development."
"However, the fundamental issue is that the EU treaties still refer to NATO when it comes to collective defence for most member states. At the same time, NATO itself has become less reliable in the current context. In essence, I believe we need to stop thinking in separate EU and NATO silos," Niehus emphasized.
According to her, the main vision should be "to achieve a high degree of European strategic independence and capacity to act."
"We can advance this through Coalitions of the Willing and the Europeanization of NATO. Whether we call this a European Defence Union or 'European NATO' is ultimately secondary. What matters is having the necessary structures, policies, and capabilities to deter and defend against the main threat – Russia – on our own and without US support," Niehus stressed.
At the same time, she did not rule out that in the long term, "the political dynamics of establishing European strategic independence could even lead to the creation of a new organization that combines elements of both EU and NATO structures."
"However, this is long-term. In the interim, the most practical approach is to rely on Coalitions of the Willing and to accelerate the Europeanization of NATO. Over time, such efforts could evolve organically into a new European security and defence architecture," she believes.
As reported by Ukrinform, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called for a reset of the transatlantic partnership, acknowledging a deep rift between Europe and the United States.
Photo provided by Gerlinde Niehus
