BRUSSELS — A senior member of the European Parliament has endorsed US President Donald Trump's call for an urgent reform of NATO, saying the Western alliance suffers from "weaknesses" and needs "revitalizing."

Trump has expressed skepticism toward NATO, branding it as "obsolete."

But Geoffrey Van Orden told Defense News that Trump's remarks about the alliance were "carefully qualified."

Van Orden, who previously served as the British Army's chief of staff in Berlin, said: "Trump attached importance to NATO and made clear his commitment to the defense of Europe and the West.

"His concerns were that NATO had not reformed to meet the threat of Islamist terrorism and that its members had relied too heavily on America and were not paying their way."

Van Orden, who has wide international and operational experience, particularly in the field of counterterrorism, stoped short of dismissing NATO as obsolete but said the European Union is the main cause of its "weakness."


"Trump usually gets to the core of the key issues, but he hasn't yet seen the linkage between NATO's failure to adapt and the EU's defense ambitions," the MEP said. "Instead of putting all their efforts into revitalizing NATO, its European members have been distracted by the EU's quest for an autonomous military capability."


During his presidential campaign, Trump warned that as president he would not defend European countries that he felt failed to spend enough on defense.

A Jan. 16 issue of German tabloid Bild Zeitung features an exclusive interview with then-US President-elect Donald Trump. In the interview, he referred to the NATO military alliance as obsolete.

Photo Credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Van Orden, who previously served as the executive secretary of International Military Staff at NATO's Brussels headquarters, added: "Far from providing additional capabilities or some sort of reinforcement for NATO, EU defense policy is a wasteful, duplicative, dishonest and divisive effort, driven by the desire for the political integration of the continent and rejection of American influence." 

As the Conservative defense spokesman, Van Orden  takes a strong interest in the British armed forces and has visited troops locally and on active service overseas.

"Some of us have been very clear about this for years. The EU should drop its military pretensions and instead encourage its members to invest more in their national defense capabilities in order to produce state-of-the-art, deployable and sustainable military forces," he continued.

"In this way, they are more likely to fulfill the NATO defense-spending obligation and be in a strong position to provide the necessary forces for NATO use. This would reassure the US president about the vitality of the alliance and the unswerving commitment of its European members."

His comments are partly echoed by Nick Clegg, the former UK deputy prime minister, who, speaking at an event in Brussels on Tuesday, said it was "clearly unsustainable" for NATO members to continue expecting "Uncle Sam" to pay the lion's share of NATO's costs.

"I perfectly understand why Trump says other NATO members have got to pay their fair share. I also agree that NATO members should pool their defense and security resources more effectively. I totally get that," said Clegg, who is a senior Liberal Democrat in the British Parliament.

NATO estimates for 2016 show that only five alliance members — the US, UK, Greece, Poland and Estonia — will spend a minimum of 2 percent of national output, or gross domestic product, on defense, which is the target.

Germany's defense spending of €37 billion (US $40 billion) in 2017 will be 1.2 percent of its GDP.

Under Article 5 of NATO, members of the alliance commit to protecting each other and " setting a spirit of solidarity." Trump has said NATO allies are overly reliant on the US and has questioned whether the US should defend any NATO ally if so many of the 28 members are not paying their way.

About Martin Banks

Martin Banks covered the European Union, NATO and affairs in Belgium for Defense News.

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