NATO chief says both sides of Atlantic need each other in face of growing challenges

By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA) – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that both sides of the Atlantic need each other in the face of growing challenges.

“We have heard voices on both sides of the Atlantic calling for America and Europe to part ways. Focusing on short-sighted national interests over longer-term cooperation will not serve us well,” Stoltenberg said, speaking at the German Marshall Fund event "Reflections on a Challenging Decade" in Berlin.

“Isolationism will not keep anyone safe. We live in an interconnected world. Security challenges are too big and competition is too fierce for any country to go it alone,” he added.

Maintaining that only NATO can ensure safety and peace in Europe, he revealed that 80% of the alliance’s defense spending comes from non-European Union allies.

“It is also about geography. Without Türkiye in the south, Norway in the north, and the US, Canada and the United Kingdom in the west, it is impossible to envisage the security of the European continent,” he added.

He noted that the alliance also serves US interests as much as it does Europe’s.

“No other major power has as many friends and allies as the United States. Any policy that seeks to undermine this is squandering one of America’s greatest assets.”

Turning to the war in Ukraine, Stoltenberg said that supporting Kyiv is the way to bring Russia to the negotiation table, which would lead to peace.

“The paradox is that the more weapons for Ukraine we are able to deliver, the more likely it is that we can reach peace and an end to the war. And the more credible our long-term military support, the sooner the war will end,” he added.