NATO will become more European-led, NATO Chief Rutte says

The NATO alliance will become more European-led, with a continuing strong presence of the United States, as European allies significantly increase military spending, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Friday.

“Over the coming years we will more and more sea a NATO that is more European-led, but at the same time with the US absolutely anchored in the organization,” Rutte told reporters on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

“We will do this step by step, in close conjunction with the United States, based on the defense planning process we have.”

Germany’s foreign minister said on Friday that recent comments by U.S. government representatives have caused irritation within NATO, and the Munich Security Conference is an opportunity to overcome differences.

“This alliance is also under pressure. There is alienation, there is irritation about some of the things we hear from Washington. We need to talk about this here together. We want to define our common denominators and the meaning of NATO,” Johann Wadephul told German broadcaster ARD, speaking from Munich.