Published 19.50
For Secretary General Mark Rutte, there is no shortage of challenges ahead of the NATO summit in Turkey next week.
After demanding higher defense budgets from other member states, US President Donald Trump is now demanding “loyalty” from his allies – otherwise he is once again threatening to leave the alliance.
Trump has long criticized European NATO countries for not paying enough for their own defense. That issue was largely resolved during last year’s summit in the Netherlands, when members agreed to increase their defense budgets.
Now, however, the big challenge remains to put the money into practice. The goal is to rapidly strengthen the alliance’s military capabilities in order to meet the growing threat from Russia. But for Trump, money is no longer the main issue.
The Iran War
Keeping the US in NATO has been a difficult task for both Mark Rutte and his representative Jens Stoltenberg. Already during Trump’s first term, he threatened to leave the alliance. During the current mandate, the challenges have deepened. Last winter, NATO countries were shaken when Trump threatened to take over Greenland from Denmark.
The latest and biggest rift concerns the war against Iran that the US and Israel started in February this year.
Trump is deeply unhappy that several European NATO countries – including Spain, Germany, Britain and France – have refused to give the US sufficient military support, according to his interpretation.
– We don’t need their money – we don’t need anything. I just want loyalty, Trump said at a meeting with Rutte at the White House at the end of June.
Tried Erdogan
Trump’s frustration has gone so far that he considered not attending the summit in Ankara on Tuesday and Wednesday.
According to the AP news agency, the American president’s respect for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is the only reason why he chooses to attend at all. During the meeting with Rutte, Trump directed harsh criticism at the majority of European countries, but at the same time praised Erdogan as an “outstanding leader and a good friend”.
Trump claimed, among other things, that Turkey had been able to enter the war on Iran’s side because of the country’s cool relationship with Israel, but that Erdogan respected the US’s refusal to do so.
For Mark Rutte, Turkey has become a playing card to keep Donald Trump at the negotiating table.
