Lithuanian ex-minister slams Rutte for saying Europe can’t defend itself

Lithuania’s former Foreign Minister has sharply criticised Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s recent comments at the European Parliament, suggesting that Europe cannot defend itself without US support.

Gabrielius Landsbergis described Rutte’s remarks on X as “de facto defeatism” that undermines Europe’s ability to deter Russian aggression.

“Bullies aren’t deterred by loud declarations of vulnerability; they are emboldened and encouraged,” the ex-minister said. “I feel a little uneasy watching a NATO Secretary General choose this particular communication strategy.”

The former official questioned the pragmatic value of Rutte’s approach, arguing that portraying Europe as weak to justify US support was unnecessary. “Nobody was really questioning that need for that,” they said.

“Nobody is seriously saying Europe should choose to go it alone and burn all bridges. But some of us are saying we might not get a choice, and Rutte’s assumption that the US would split its forces to save Europe from Russia is looking more and more dreamlike as time goes on.”

The former minister also said that the crucial issue – preparing Europe to defend itself without its main ally – was largely ignored.

“The important question Rutte side-stepped is this: What must be done to prepare Europe to fight in the increasingly likely and terrifying scenario B, i.e. without our main ally? In the light of recent developments, it seems to me that the pinnacle of pragmatism would be to at least have an honest conversation about this very real possibility.”

On January 26, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte insisted that Europe is incapable of defending itself without U.S. military support and would have to more than double current military spending targets to do so.

“If anyone thinks here … that the European Union or Europe as a whole can defend itself without the U.S., keep on dreaming. You can’t,” Rutte told EU lawmakers in Brussels. Europe and the United States “need each other,” he added.

Tensions have risen within NATO amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent threats over Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark. Trump initially proposed new tariffs on Greenland’s European backers but later dropped them after a “framework” for a deal over the mineral-rich island was reached with Rutte’s help.

At NATO’s July summit in The Hague, European allies — except Spain — plus Canada agreed to match the U.S. in defence investment, pledging 3.5% of GDP on core defence and 1.5% on security-related infrastructure by 2035.

“If you really want to go it alone,” Rutte said, “forget that you can ever get there with 5%. It will be 10%. You have to build up your own nuclear capability. That costs billions and billions of euros.”

By Aghakazim Guliyev