Nato Rutte surprised – This is how he defended Trump and the Greenland agreement

Secretary General of NATO Mark Rutte was discussing transatlantic security with the EU Parliament’s foreign affairs committee and defense committee on Monday.

In their speeches, several members of the EU Parliament thanked the NATO Secretary General for being able to influence the US President last week in Davos to Donald Trump in a way that led to a decrease in tension between the United States and Europe regarding the Greenland situation.

According to Rutte, in the solution of the Greenland issue, several European leaders had already had many phone calls before Davos, and in the end they reached an agreement on two ways forward. According to Rutte, the first line of work is NATO’s responsibility. In it, the alliance collectively takes more responsibility for the defense of the Arctic.

There are seven NATO countries in the Arctic: the United States, Canada, Denmark (Greenland), Iceland, Norway, Finland and Sweden.

“One line of work is to look at how we can collectively best prevent Russia and China from gaining more access to the Arctic region and also from becoming an even bigger opponent there militarily.

According to Rutte, China and Russia must also be prevented from exploiting Greenland economically.

“As the Secretary General of NATO, I will very strongly participate in the first line of work: how we as NATO can collectively advance the defense of the Arctic.”

According to Rutte, the second line of work is related to what was agreed upon in Washington even before Davos, when the foreign ministers of Greenland and Denmark met with the vice president JD Vancen and Foreign Minister Marco Rubion.

“They agreed to continue their discussions in this tripartite format,” Rutte said, but did not reveal the content of the further discussions.

Defended Trump

Rutte defended Trump’s Greenland speeches in front of the EU Parliament. He reminded that Trump had already stated in his first presidential term that there is a problem with the security of the Arctic. This was repeated by Trump when he returned to office again in January 2025.

“I think he is right,” Rutte said.

According to the Secretary General of NATO, the problem in the Arctic is the opening of sea routes and the activation of the Chinese and Russians.

Rutte said that NATO is now going to examine how the capabilities needed for Arctic defense will be included in NATO’s capability target system.

“The Danes have emphasized this. The Prime Minister (Mette) Frederiksen visited me on Friday and he emphasized this strongly and I think quite rightly.”

In front of the EU Parliament, Rutte denied the rumors according to which the United States had connected the Greenland discussions with the Ukraine discussions.

“From the US side, these discussions have no connection,” Rutte assured.

Ukraine number one

Rutte hoped that helping Ukraine, which is fighting a defensive war, would remain the number one theme on the EU’s agenda.

According to NATO’s Secretary General, the EU should show flexibility in how Ukraine can use the 90 billion euro loan promised to it by the EU to purchase weapons and finance its budget.

“I really urge you to make sure that flexibility is maintained in the use of these funds, and that the ‘buy from the EU’ conditions are not set too restrictively,” Rutte emphasized to members of parliament.

“Europe is now building its own defense industry, and that is vital, but at the moment it cannot provide nearly enough of what Ukraine needs to defend itself and prevent threats in the future,” Rutte said.

Among the EU countries, France in particular has pushed for the EU funds given to Ukraine to go primarily to European defense companies.

Germany, on the other hand, has proposed a change to the 90 billion euro loan, which would reward those countries that have given Ukraine a lot of military aid, in which case they would receive a larger share of Ukrainian military purchases financed by the loan. Of the EU countries, Germany would benefit the most from this, because it has clearly provided the most military aid to Ukraine.

Peace treaty

Regarding the Ukraine peace agreement, the NATO Secretary General confirmed the information that Ukraine’s security guarantees are close to the final agreement.

There are three levels of security guarantees: the first level consists of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which would be the first line of defense. The second line is a coalition of the willing, led by the French and the British. They provide training and support in the military strengthening of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The third starboard in terms of security guarantees would be the United States.

According to Rutte, in the short term, there is no prospect of Ukraine becoming a NATO member, although the path to membership is still open for it.

“It is neither politically nor practically possible, and it makes security guarantees even more important so that Russia can never attack again,” Rutte said.

Europe without the United States

Rutte rejected the idea of ​​a separate European defense pillar. According to him, “the European pillar is a bit of an empty word”, and if it means the European defense force, it would only lead to overlaps.

According to the Secretary General of NATO, creating and maintaining a new structure would complicate matters.

“I think Putin would love that, so think again.”

According to Rutte, Trump is very committed to NATO now that the US president’s biggest source of irritation, i.e. the Europeans’ too little defense spending, has been fixed.

According to the Secretary General of NATO, the US military will always play a strong role in Europe, and at the same time, the “nuclear umbrella” that protects Europe will also remain over Europe.

“Anyone who imagines that Europe could defend itself without the United States can continue to dream,” Rutte said.

The Secretary General of NATO also defended Trump in that he has played a key role in strengthening the alliance.

“Do you really believe that we would have reached the 5 percent commitment without President Trump? No way,” Rutte said.

It didn’t even bother him that Trump published private text messages sent by Rutte on social media before Davos.