NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned allies on both sides of the Atlantic on Thursday, September 19, against any temptation. “isolationist”in a farewell speech just days before his departure from the Alliance. After ten years at the helm of NATO, the Norwegian official issued several warnings and offered some advice in this final speech.
“Voices have been raised on both sides of the Atlantic calling for the United States and Europe to take different paths. Isolationism will not keep anyone safe”said Mr Stoltenberg.
“We must never take the connection between North America and Europe for granted”He added. This will also be the main mission, from the 1stAhem October, from his successor, former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte: “keeping the 32 countries together” of the Alliance, he stressed.
“NATO is strong, united and more important than ever”
Republican White House candidate Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized his European allies, accusing them of being “bad payers”even threatening to abandon them, even in the event of a Russian attack, if they did not contribute sufficiently to financing the Alliance.
“The relevance of the Atlantic Alliance has been questioned. It was seen as divided, obsolete and brain-dead. But the reality is that NATO is strong, united and more important than ever.”said Mr Stoltenberg.
“We must be prepared to pay the price for peace”NATO chief warned, calling on allies to spend more. “The more money there is, the stronger our defense, the more effective our deterrence and the greater our security.”He assured, acknowledging that many times it was ” difficult “ for the current governments. But, “My duty is to explain to them that nothing is more important than peace and security”he stressed.
23 of the 32 member countries have achieved the goal set by NATO ten years ago of spending at least 2% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on military expenditure. It is a “good news”but “The bad news is that it is no longer enough to guarantee our security”he also stressed.
Several European countries are reluctant to spend more after years of budget cuts in arms spending made possible by the US military commitment to the alliance.
The war in Ukraine at the centre of debates
As for the war in Ukraine, which Stoltenberg has been confronting as NATO chief since the early days following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, he called on allies to talk to Moscow, at the risk of irritating some, such as Poland or the Baltic states. “We need to talk to our neighbors, as difficult as it may be”he said. But “Ukraine must engage in dialogue with Russia from a position of strength”he added immediately.
AND, “Any future peace agreement must be backed by strong and lasting military support, not just pieces of paper”He warned again, recalling the failure of the Minsk agreements signed with Russia after 2014.
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“Our responsibility is to enable the Ukrainians to send the message that [le président russe Vladimir Poutine] “We cannot win on the battlefield, the price will be too high.”he insisted.
From this point of view, he regretted that NATO had not provided more military assistance to Ukraine after 2014.
“If we had been stronger earlier, at least the bar for Russia in its attack on Ukraine would have been higher and the cost higher.”he explained.
On the economic front, Stoltenberg warned against repeating the mistakes made with Russia with China.
Moscow has “They used their gas as a weapon to prevent us from helping Ukraine. We must not make the same mistakes with China and become dependent on their rare earths.”essential for the production of, for example, mobile phones, he warned.
