European Officials Criticize Trump’s NATO Comments
Sudan Events – Sumaya Sayed
Two European officials criticized Donald Trump on Sunday after comments the former US president made about not protecting NATO allies who aren’t paying enough from a potential Russian invasion.
EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton was asked in an LCI television interview about the remarks on Saturday by Trump, who is likely to be the Republican nominee in this year’s US presidential election.
“We cannot flip a coin about our security every four years depending on this or that election, namely the US presidential election,” Breton said, adding European Union leaders understood the bloc needed to boost its own military spending and capacities.
Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz also weighed in.
“NATO’s motto ‘one for all, all for one’ is a concrete commitment. Undermining the credibility of allied countries means weakening the entire NATO,” he wrote on social media platform X.
“No election campaign is an excuse for playing with the security of the Alliance.”
Officials at NATO headquarters in Brussels did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The NATO treaty contains a provision that guarantees mutual defence of member states if one is attacked.
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates, asked about Trump’s comments, said, “Encouraging invasions of our closest allies by murderous regimes is appalling and unhinged — and it endangers American national security, global stability, and our economy at home.”
