"Stop Trump from destroying NATO"/ Rutte's focus "clashes" him with Europeans

2026-01-31 21:16:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

"Stop Trump from destroying NATO"/ Rutte's focus

Mark Rutte has one main focus as NATO secretary general: Stopping Donald Trump from destroying the alliance.

That focus is now putting the former Dutch prime minister on a collision course with the European capitals he once worked with. It has left NATO damaged even after he managed to persuade Trump to scale back his threats to annex Greenland.

Tensions unfolded in the European Parliament, where Rutte openly defended the US, the superpower in the alliance.

"If anyone here thinks... that the European Union or Europe as a whole can defend itself without the US, let them keep dreaming ," he told MEPs.

Reactions to this statement were swift and accompanied by anger.

"No, dear Mark Rutte. Europeans can and must take charge of their own security. This is the European pillar of NATO ," countered French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot.

"It was an embarrassing moment. We don't need a Trump fanatic. NATO needs to rebalance US and European efforts," said Nathalie Loiseau, a former French minister for Europe and now an MEP.

Spain's Nacho SANchez Amor was even more direct in his reaction.

"Are you the US ambassador to NATO, or the secretary general representing the alliance and its members?" was the socialist MEP's retort to Rutte.

The clash is also exposing a growing line of division within NATO: Rutte's conviction that keeping Trump on board is the only way to keep the alliance intact, and Europe's growing alarm that this strategy is emptying the alliance.

While the secretary-general tries to keep the Americans as close as possible, these efforts are causing a rift with his EU counterparts, who are increasingly calling for European security bodies and a continental army beyond NATO.

A group of NATO insiders, diplomats, current and former colleagues of Rutte, describe him as a skilled crisis manager who recently achieved a victory in Greenland, but at the cost of deepening European concern about NATO's long-term future.

But Rutte's defenders say he has succeeded in keeping the alliance together, a task so difficult that he cannot always ensure that all 32 members of the alliance are satisfied. Officials familiar with how he works also insist that he speaks more openly with Trump in private.

However, the Greenland issue "caused a lot of damage," said a NATO diplomat.

More equal than others

Although Rutte insists he represents all NATO allies, it is clear that his priority is to prevent the United States under Trump from withdrawing from Europe. This makes him a target for criticism that he is overshadowing the rest of his job.

Even the secretary-general's successful attempt to help Trump back down from his threats about Greenland at the Davos summit on January 19-23 in Switzerland is raising questions about whether this is just a temporary suspension and whether the US will try again to take control of parts of the Arctic island.

"What deal are you supposed to have made with President Trump? Did you have a mandate as secretary-general to negotiate on behalf of Greenland and Denmark," Green MEP and former Danish Foreign Minister Villy Sovndal asked on Monday.

Rutte denied having acted outside his powers.

"Of course, I have no mandate to negotiate on behalf of Denmark, so I did not and will not ," he said in Parliament.

Trump's assessment also risks creating a credibility problem for the alliance. NATO is known for its commitment to collective defense - as enshrined in Article 5 - but the alliance is also bound by Articles 2 and 3, which require countries to promote economic cooperation and mutual rearmament.

Continuing this concern, Trump has previously cast doubt on his support for Article 5 and downplayed the military commitments of other allies, claiming last week that Europeans had stayed away from the front lines in the US-led war in Afghanistan.

Responding to these criticisms, a NATO official said: “Like secretaries general before him, NATO Secretary General Rutte is convinced that our collective security is best served by European and North American cooperation through NATO.”

Trump card at the ready

Despite this, Rutte has stuck firmly to his strategy of publicly supporting Trump, insisting that he is a positive factor for the alliance.

Last year, NATO agreed to significantly increase military spending to 5% of GDP by 2035 - an outcome that many in the alliance also see as helping Europe stand on its own two feet.

The secretary-general said on Monday that this would not have happened in any way without pressure from the US president.

The White House stated that it fully agrees with Rutte's statement.

"President Trump has done more for NATO than anyone else ," said White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly.

Having quickly established a good rapport with Trump during his first term in the White House, Rutte understood that public flattery was key to keeping the US president on the other side.

"He can make himself very small and humble to achieve his goal," said Petra de Koning, who wrote a biography of Rutte in 2020.

This often goes to the extreme: The Dutchman described Trump as a "father" during last year's NATO summit in The Hague and praised him in messages published by the US president.

Although the deal to convince Trump to back down from his threats about Greenland may have left a bad taste in Europe, NATO was not destroyed.

"The reality is that Rutte is delivering results ," said a senior NATO diplomat.

"Unlike some other leaders, he never questioned the alliance - I appreciate that ," added a second senior alliance diplomat.

But the positive assessment of Trump risks encouraging the American president to be even bolder with his choices and decisions in the future.

"Politicians around the world and in this country ignore Trump's ego at their peril ," said Stephen Farnsworth, a political scientist at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia.

This could also create problems for the alliance in the future.

"For the good of the alliance, Rutte is impressing Trump ," said the top NATO diplomat.

"But the question is, how far will this go?" /Taken from Politico, adapted from CNA.