Rutte to EP: Keep dreaming if you believe Europe can defend itself without the US

2026-01-26 17:56:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Rutte to EP: Keep dreaming if you believe Europe can defend itself without the

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte recently said that Ukraine is facing its harshest winter in more than a decade, due to increasing Russian attacks on critical infrastructure, mainly in Kiev and other major cities in the country.

In a speech to MEPs in the European Parliament, Rutte stressed that peace talks led by the United States were underway, praising the American initiative.

He stressed that the goal should be either a peace agreement or a long-term ceasefire, expressing the hope that this will be achieved as soon as possible, in a way that will ensure that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attack Ukraine again. Addressing MEPs, Rutte reiterated that Ukraine's security is directly linked to the security of Europe as a whole.

Rutte then referred to Greenland, saying that he had had a series of telephone conversations with European leaders last week, from which two main directions emerged. The first concerns strengthening NATO's collective activities in the Arctic, with the aim of addressing threats from Russia and China, both on a military level and in terms of protecting Greenland's economy. The second direction concerns relations between Denmark, Greenland and the United States, following a recent meeting of Danish and Greenlandic officials with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

He also said that Ukraine wants to join NATO, but noted that some member states are still against it, which makes such a development politically unrealistic at the moment. At the same time, he categorically denied that the United States tried to link security guarantees for Ukraine to discussions about Greenland.

Referring to a possible European alternative to NATO without the US, he warned that such a thing would be extremely complicated and assessed that it would serve Moscow's interests.

Addressing MEPs again, he also said that if they believe that the EU or Europe as a whole can be defended without the US, they should “keep dreaming.” He stressed that Europe needs the US, just as the US needs NATO, assuring that, despite Washington’s changing priorities, there will continue to be a strong American military presence in Europe. /CNA