Europe's largest military powers are drawing up plans to take on greater responsibilities for the continent's defense from the US, including a proposal to the Donald Trump administration for a managed transfer of responsibilities over the next five to ten years, the newspaper reported. The discussions are an attempt to avoid the chaos of a unilateral US withdrawal from NATO - a fear fuelled by President Donald Trump's repeated threats to weaken or withdraw from the transatlantic alliance that has defended Europe for almost eight decades. The UK, France, Germany and the Nordic countries are among the countries taking part in the informal but structured discussions, according to four European officials involved, the Financial Times noted. Their aim is to draw up a plan to shift the financial and military burden to European capitals, to be presented to the US before the annual summit of NATO leaders in The Hague in June.
The proposal will include firm commitments to increase European defence spending and build military capabilities in an attempt to persuade Trump to agree to a gradual shift that would allow the US to focus more on Asia.
In addition to its nuclear deterrent, which is committed to protecting Europe, with the air forces of several European countries carrying US nuclear weapons, the US provides military capabilities that continental allies do not possess, operates air, naval and military bases and has 80,000 troops stationed in Europe, the Financial Times added.
Since Trump's election, countries such as Germany, France and the UK have increased their defence spending or accelerated already planned increases, and the EU has proposed initiatives to its member states to accelerate the increase in military investment.
It will take about five to ten years of such increased spending to raise European capabilities to a level where they could replace most US competencies, not including the US nuclear deterrent.
While US diplomats have assured their European counterparts that Trump remains committed to NATO membership and its Article 5 mutual defence clause, many European capitals are concerned that the White House could decide to quickly reduce the deployment of its troops or equipment or abandon the shared tasks of the North Atlantic Treaty, the "Financial Times" notes.
Some capitals are reluctant to participate in the talks on burden-shifting, fearing that they will encourage the US to act more quickly, officials said, with the belief that - despite rhetoric - Trump has no intention of making significant changes to the US military presence in Europe. Others are skeptical that his administration would even agree to a structured process given its unpredictable nature, the newspaper said.
Officials point to ongoing and regular discussions led by France and the United Kingdom to form a "coalition of the willing" to support Ukraine in its war against Russia and invest in European defense as indicative of the direction of movement. The United States is not involved in these discussions between more than a dozen European defense forces.
NATO officials argue that preserving the alliance with little or no U.S. involvement is much simpler than creating a new structure, given the difficulty of recreating or renegotiating the continent's existing military defense plans, its capabilities goals and rules, its command structure and Article 5, the Financial Times reported.
Defending Europe will always require the United Kingdom and other Atlantic navies, the Scandinavian countries for the northern part of the continent and Turkey for the defense of the southeastern flank, officials said: forces that NATO already has.
"Even without the United States, NATO provides a structure for security cooperation in Europe," said Marion Messmer, an international security expert at Chatham House.
"There is aspects that would have to be replaced if the US withdrew. Nevertheless, NATO provides a structure and an infrastructure framework that Europeans are familiar with... It does much of the work that would have to be done from scratch if another kind of structure were created just for European members," Messmer added.
At their spring summit, the heads of state and government of the European Union member states decided to do everything in their power to significantly strengthen Europe's defense readiness over the next five years, a statement published yesterday said, Süddeutsche Zeitung reported.
The European Commission plans to provide loans totaling 150 billion euros for armament projects and exempt defense spending from strict EU debt rules. A total of 800 billion euros are to be mobilized over the next four years and regulations for the arms industry will be eased.
The situation is considered extremely dangerous, as US President Donald Trump announced that the nuclear superpower the United States will no longer be unconditionally available as a guarantor of peace in Europe, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported. The summit declaration, however, makes it clear that the EU is nevertheless committed to NATO's survival. For the 23 EU countries that are also NATO members, this remains the basis of their collective defense.
In view of the growing uncertainty about transatlantic cooperation, EU countries are faced with the challenge of rethinking their dependence on US commitments for European security, the "Frankfurter Rundschau" points out. Closer cooperation with Turkey could be an option to resolve this issue. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is said to have already recommended that EU member states expand cooperation with Ankara. According to Reuters, Rutte also warned against isolating European defense initiatives from non-EU NATO countries, including Turkey, the "Frankfurter Rundschau" added.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly stressed that joining the EU is a "strategic priority" for him. At the same time, Erdogan sees the convergence of security policy with Europe as an opportunity to revive stalled negotiations on a customs union, visa facilitation and Ankara's EU membership, the "Frankfurter Rundschau" noted.