Europe must strengthen defence capabilities regardless of US elections, Ukraine war: Germany
- The annual global gathering of politicians, diplomats and military officers comes as worries grow about the US commitment to helping Ukraine fend off Russia’s invasion
- Former US President Donald Trump has said that if he is re-elected, he will not defend allies within the Nato alliance who fail to spend enough on defence
Europe must strengthen its ability to defend itself regardless of who wins the upcoming US elections or how the war in Ukraine turns out, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told a global security conference in Munich on Saturday.
The three-day annual global gathering of politicians, diplomats and military officers comes as worries in Europe grow about US commitment to helping Ukraine fend off Russia’s full-scale invasion and to defending its allies more broadly.
Former US President Donald Trump has said he would not defend allies within the Nato Western defence alliance who fail to spend enough on defence, if he is re-elected later this year.
Trump-supporting Republicans in Congress are also blocking aid for Ukraine’s defence against Russia.
“We Europeans must take much more care of our own security, now and in the future,” Scholz said on the second day of conference dubbed the “Davos of Defence”.
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Germany, Europe’s largest economy, has hiked its spending on defence to two per cent of output and will continue to hit that target of the Nato Western defence alliance, Scholz said.