(Brussels) NATO, with its 75 years of troubled history, can face any eventuality, including elections in France or the United States, its Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg assured Thursday, in an interview with AFP.
A few hours before the first electoral debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, the head of the Alliance wanted to be reassuring.
“I expect the United States to remain a strong NATO ally, regardless of the outcome of the U.S. election, because it is in the U.S. interest for its own security,” he said. declared the Norwegian leader of the Alliance.
But, according to Jens Stoltenberg, the political ups and downs experienced by NATO since its creation in 1949 have made it much more solid.
“It’s not written in stone, nor is it a law of nature. These are political decisions that we make every day, but we have proven that we are capable of being very resilient, because it is in our interest to stay together, and that applies to the United States as well as to Europe. », explained the head of NATO, when asked about the dangers of the Alliance breaking up after the American and French elections.
The Norwegian leader, who will leave NATO on October 1 after ten years at its head, cited as an example of “resilience” the shock caused by the French decision to leave the integrated military command of the Alliance in 1966.
In 75 years, “we have faced many internal debates, many questions about the strength of the Alliance, many doubts about our ability to stay together, starting with the crisis in 1966, the French decision to leave the NATO command structure,” he explained.
NATO has also been able to adapt, its Secretary General further explained.
“Former President Donald Trump’s criticism was not directed at NATO, but at NATO Allies [within] NATO who are not paying enough,” assured the Norwegian leader.
However, this situation has “changed now”, with 23 of the 32 member countries now devoting at least 2% of their gross domestic product (GDP) to military spending, he added.
“We are in a better position to demonstrate that […] the United States does not bear the burden alone” of the expense, he further explained.
Donald Trump was not the first American president to complain about the Europeans’ lack of commitment to financing their own defense, recalled Mr. Stoltenberg.
Donald Trump was “very, very frank and direct in his criticism of the ‘deadbeat’ Allies. Biden delivered the same message, but of course with a different style and language,” he explained. But, he continued, the message remained the same: “We can’t go on like this.”
Mr. Stoltenberg was also very confident about the ability of the Atlantic Alliance to face the Russian threat.
“I am absolutely certain that NATO has sufficient strength to prevent attacks in the future, as we have proven over all these years,” he said.
NATO is not at war with Russia, even though it is, by far, Ukraine’s primary supporter in its war against the Russian invasion.
And from this point of view, Mr. Stoltenberg also does not believe that Russia is capable of a “significant breakthrough” on the battlefield.
“We have no other indication or reason to believe that Russia has the capabilities or the forces to make significant breakthroughs,” Mr. Stoltenberg further assured, for whom Moscow will however continue to “try” and launch “air attacks” against Ukraine.
