Unless Europe increases defense spending, US can withdraw from NATO at one point - Rinkevics

RIGA - Unless Europe increases its defense spending, the United States can withdraw from NATO at some point, President Edgars Rinkevics said in an interview with Latvian Television on Tuesday.

Asked about the need to move towards creating a European army, Rinkvics argued that broad alliances at the regional European level mean nothing if countries do not invest in increasing and strengthening their own defense capabilities. "You can make a lot of clever papers, but you have to look at the size of the armies," the president said.

Rinkevics noted that perhaps when the armed forces of European countries become bigger and stronger, NATO will also be strengthened, while Europe will again become more interesting to the US as a more serious partner.

There is no reason to doubt NATO now, but at the same time, if Europe does not invest in its defense, it cannot be excluded that the US will leave the Alliance at some point, the politician said, stressing that our main focus must be on strengthening our own capabilities, regional cooperation, paying attention to what is happening at the European level.

"At the moment we see that nothing has changed in the US presence in Europe. I am concerned that if the Hague summit fails to agree on increasing defense spending, on essential things, then the dynamics could turn negative. We are in an era of great uncertainty, but a lot depends on ourselves," the president assessed.

According to Rinkevics, it would be important if countries at the upcoming summit in The Hague could agree to increase defense spending to at least 3-3.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), which would already be a significant increase, especially given that not all countries are ready for such a move at the moment.