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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg

Photo: Olivier Matthys / EPA

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg sharply criticized former US President Donald Trump's statements about not defending defaulting NATO allies if he were re-elected. “Any suggestion that allies will not defend themselves undermines all of our security, including that of the United States, and puts U.S. and European soldiers at increased risk,” Stoltenberg said.

Trump, currently the most promising candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, told of an unspecified meeting with the president of a NATO state at a rally in the US state of South Carolina on Saturday. According to Trump, the conversation went like this: "One of the presidents of a major country stood up and said, 'Well, sir, if we don't pay and we get attacked by Russia, will you protect us?' I said, 'You didn't.' paid, you are in default?’”. Trump said he finally responded; No, in that case he will not protect the country. He would "even encourage Russia to do whatever the hell they want." They have to pay.

The ex-president had repeatedly emphasized in the past that he found it unfair that the USA had to stand up for the defense of the 30 other member states.

"Maybe he has memory problems"

EU Commissioner Thierry Breton told broadcaster LCI on Sunday that Trump's stance was not new. "Maybe he has memory problems," Breton commented on the South Carolina Republican's story. He apparently has different information about the meeting described by Trump: "In fact, it was a female president, not of a country, but of the EU," said Breton, referring to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

In January, Breton himself reported on a meeting in Davos in 2020 between Trump and von der Leyen. According to Breton, Trump said: "By the way, NATO is dead and we will leave it, we will withdraw from NATO."

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EU Council President Charles Michel said reckless statements about NATO security and Article 5 solidarity only served the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Article 5 of the NATO treaty states that an armed attack against one member of the alliance is considered an attack against all, triggering collective self-defense.

Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz wrote on X that no election campaign could serve as an excuse to play with the security of the alliance.

The Green Party's security policy spokeswoman, Sara Nanni, told Handelsblatt that Trump was erratic. "That made him a burden for the alliance during his presidency." FDP defense expert Marcus Faber told the newspaper that Trump was increasingly becoming a risk to Germany's security. »We have to prepare now for any election outcome in November. In concrete terms, this means increasing our independence in the arms industry.«

There was initially no explicit statement from the federal government. The Foreign Office wrote in English on the short message service

The White House reacted angrily to Trump's denial of the NATO assistance clause. "Encouraging invasions of our closest allies by murderous regimes is appalling and crazy," spokesman Andrew Bates said Saturday evening. Instead of calling for wars and promoting “deranged chaos,” US President Joe Biden will “continue to strengthen American leadership.”

NATO Secretary General calls for expansion of arms production

Against the backdrop of the blockade of new US military aid to Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg called for the expansion of defense production in Europe: "We must restore and expand our industrial base more quickly so that we can increase deliveries to Ukraine and replenish our own stocks can," Stoltenberg told "Welt am Sonntag." Europe must prepare itself “for a potentially decades-long confrontation” with Russia.

The governments of the NATO states should therefore quickly conclude contracts with the arms industry, said Stoltenberg. A shift is now needed from "slow production in times of peace to fast production, as is necessary in conflict." The West, with its economic strength, is in a position to "outperform Russia in both production and investment." .

Putin is preparing his country's economy for a long war and has ordered a 70 percent increase in Russian military spending, said the NATO Secretary General. Putin's war showed that peace in Europe cannot be taken for granted.

fok/Reuters/AFP