Spain’s foreign minister has called on the European Union to create its own standing army in a bid to reduce dependence on the United States for its defence.
José Manuel Albares said that European countries must be prepared for countries such as Russia to test whether Washington would come to the continent’s aid following months of attacks by Donald Trump on the Nato alliance.
The US president pulled 5,000 troops from Germany earlier this month after chancellor Friedrich Merz said that the Iranians were humiliating the US in negotiations to end the war.
Tensions had been rising amid American complaints over a lack of European support for the war in Iran and in the Strait of Hormuz, which has remained largely closed to commercial shipping.
Spain has been the most vocal critic of Trump’s war in the Middle East, branding it “absurd, cruel and illegal”.
“We cannot be waking up every morning wondering what the US will do next,” Mr Albares told Politico ahead of Monday’s Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels. “Our citizens deserve better.”
He insisted that the independent defence would not undermine Nato, which is made up of both European and non-European states.
“We need a military, a common defence capacity,” he explained. “The United States have been making their army stronger and stronger and no one thinks that that weakens Nato. If Nato is not providing any more the security that was given before … [then] we have to do more as Europeans.”
He added: “The magic of Nato is that you are in Nato and nothing happens because no one dares to try to check if Article 5 really works or not.”
Article 5 relates to the alliance’s mutual defence clause and was last invoked on 10 September 2001, the day after the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centre in New York.
“That’s what we have to recreate – the deterrence,” he said. “That if you want to mess with me, go somewhere else. Because we will stand together.”
He emphasised the importance of cooperation but advised caution in the face of changing priorities on the part of Europe’s partners.
“We really believe in transatlantic relations,” he continued. “For me, the United States is the historical natural ally of Europeans. We need both Europeans and Americans on board. And we have to accept that the Trump administration has a new vision and new ideas about transatlantic relations.”
President Trump has made several comments critical of Nato, threatening to withdraw from the alliance altogether. He has also caused consternation among European leaders with threats to seize Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.
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