Why the EU, NATO need to find common ground on nuclear strategy

Donald Trump’s recent comments that Russia should attack NATO nations that don’t invest 2 percent of their GDP on defence have prompted heated discussions about whether the EU needs its own nuclear weapons.The situation has compelled US president Joe Biden who joins a host of other leaders in the European Union to lambast Trump for his divisive comments.

The facts

Trump, addressing a campaign rally in South Carolina, said that when he was president, he told NATO leaders that he would “encourage [Russia] to do whatever the hell they want” to alliance members that are “delinquent” in meeting the group’s spending targets.

The US ex-president said he was subsequently asked by a president “of a big country” if he will protect countries should they be attacked by Russia. According to Trump, his answer as head of state was “no, I won’t protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.”

Meanwhile, nuclear weapons have shaped Europe’s history for nearly 60 years. But Europe is reassessing its security posture with great urgency due to the increasing threat from Russia and the potential US pullout from NATO.

Today February 15, NATO defense ministers convened in Brussels to discuss defense budgets, ammunition manufacturing, and assistance to Ukraine. In addition, there is a growing anxiety over Washington’s commitment to its allies if Donald Trump were to retake power. This has led the chief of NATO to caution member nations against allowing a wedge to be built between the US and Europe.

The arguments

In hindsight, it appears that the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination misunderstood the workings of NATO when he made his comment. The White House chided Trump over his comments describing it as “appalling and unhinged”.

Countries do not contribute to a single, centralized budget. Instead, each nation pays for its own military, with the alliance as a whole agreeing to commit to spending at least 2% of GDP by this year.

Eleven of the alliance’s thirty-one members are expected to meet that goal this year; Poland leads the group in military spending, allocating 4.2 percent of its GDP to the armed forces.

Some German politicians have suggested the EU needs its own nuclear weapons rather than relying on the United States of America, France, and the United Kingdom. But Germany’s defence committee chair thinks otherwise. According to Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, the EU must persuade the United States of the value of continuing its involvement in Europe. She also opined that the EU nuclear weapons strategy were ‘unrealistic’.

Lawmakers in the US on the republican side have bemoaned the rate at which foreign aid is being rolled out to Ukraine. The partisan impasse in Washington over a vital aid package to U.S. ally, Ukraine has heightened concerns in Europe about the stability of the decades-old U.S. commitment to European security, but Trump’s remarks are compelling Europeans to seriously contemplate ending the transatlantic alliance.

Meanwhile, the situation has seen the governments of Poland, Germany, and France vowing to ensure that Europe’s security and defence power will not be compromised or used for political gimmicks.

Russia’s president recently told the media that he prefers an assured Biden presidency over a Trump one.

Now, we wait to see the next line of strategy.