April 25, 2024 T
NATO’s Real Problem is Europe, Not The U.S.
American power is overstretched, and the future of NATO and Europe itself depends on the continent’s ability to adapt.
by Ramon Marks
Following the organization’s seventy-fifth anniversary, the conventional wisdom about NATO is that it is threatened by growing U.S. “isolationism.” Critics say that former President Trump could withdraw the United States from NATO if he is reelected. Controversy in Congress delayed supplying $60 billion in additional military aid to Ukraine. Trump has said that “he would encourage” the Russians “to do whatever the hell they want” to allies that fail to meet the 2 percent of GDP defense spending pledge. Some even express worry that the United States might withdraw its nuclear umbrella over Europe.
Overlooked in all this is that the attitudes of European allies about NATO and U.S. protection have always been variable. Just three years after NATO’s founding in 1949, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, and Germany entered into a separate European Defense Community Treaty. The initiative reflected the vision of Jean Monnet, who dreamed of establishing a supranational organization for European defense. The idea of an integrated European military, led by a European defense minister, died in 1954 when the French parliament refused even to consider the concept—a harbinger of Gaullism and French skepticism about surrendering any defense responsibilities to a supranational organization, whether an Atlanticist or European grouping.
https://nationalinterest.org/feature/nato%E2%80%99s-real-problem-europe-not-us-210755
