NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg believes that only the North Atlantic Alliance should set defense targets and introduce common military standards; the EU should not duplicate the functions of the alliance.
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“NATO is the organization that must set the targets; you cannot have two organizations that set such targets for the same countries,” he said at a press conference where he presented the annual report on NATO activities.
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He explained, in particular, that NATO and the EU cannot assign different defense tasks to countries such as Germany, Poland or Denmark, which are members of both organizations. “Military plans, including those relating to the number of tanks, ships and aircraft, and the degree of readiness, should be established by only one organization. This is the main task of NATO,” Stoltenberg emphasized.
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He also added that NATO sets standards for weapons, communications, interoperability and interoperability.
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“NATO allies in Europe provide only 20% of defense spending, so standards should be set by NATO, which provides 100%… Standards, military planning are the key task of NATO, it cannot be duplicated, it undermines our security,” Stoltenberg said.
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Previously, EU states, most of which are also members of NATO, amid fears of Donald Trump coming to power in the United States, increasingly began to discuss issues of European defense, common standards, joint defense orders and military planning.
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It is also proposed to introduce a new position of European Commissioner for Defense.
