Lisa Haseldine
The moment many European leaders had been awaiting with nervous anticipation arrived yesterday evening when the American Under-Secretary of War, Elbridge Colby, announced that the US would, at long last, be undertaking a review of its military presence on the continent as part of its commitment to Nato. Colby said: ‘This will be a real review, designed to ensure that Nato is moving fast and irreversibly toward Europe taking primary responsibility for its conventional defence.’
The US Department of War has been threatening to launch this review for much of this year so far. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth used a meeting of Nato defence ministers in June to confirm that the review would be going ahead imminently. He accused America’s allies of believing that ‘the era of free-riding’ still existed, adding that ‘it’s a review that some countries will fail and others will pass with flying colours.’ If that sounds like a threat, that is because it was: ‘Where other allies do not spend with urgency, our dues contributions will go down. Nato will be a two-way street.’
The past six months have seen a great breakdown in trust between America and its European allies
The Trump administration claims that this review is ultimately being conducted with the best interests of its European Nato allies at heart – although with a healthy dose of ‘America First’ thrown into the mix. Hegseth has spoken more than once about wanting the continent to stand on its own two feet when it comes to defence and not turn ‘Uncle Sam into Uncle Sucker’. Trump, meanwhile, has long complained about what he perceives as Europe’s freeloading, allowing America to shoulder the greatest financial burden for defending the continent.
