Europe Bending the Knee to Trump
Published in Die Tageszeitung
(Germany) on 25 June 2025
by Anastasia Zejneli (link to original)
In the Hague the focus is primarily on one thing — courting the American president. Europe must decide: stay on its knees or stand up?
Chancellor Friedrich Merz called the NATO meeting in the Hague a “historic summit.” Historic not only in terms of the exorbitantly high defense spending that the member states must now scrape together, but in terms of efforts to please one man: The NATO summit was a singular genuflection before Donald Trump. The 31 allies [of the U.S.] could not plant their metaphorical knees on the blue carpet fast enough. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte stands at the very front bowing the lowest because he has had only one job since it became clear that Trump would be returning to the White House: reconciling Trump and NATO.
And he has more than succeeded in doing so over the past two days. The meeting of the 32 allies was 100% aligned with the U.S. president. No complicated closing statements, no long discussions or critical questions. Even a hotel bed wasn’t good enough for Trump; he stayed overnight in the palace at the king’s invitation. Trump’s thanks? He shared Rutte’s private text message — another written genuflection — on the internet. If someone praises Trump like Rutte does by confidential text, why not show it off?
Fatal Consequences
The summit may be going well for Rutte despite small embarrassments like this one. Especially since the NATO countries were able to agree on a closing statement. And yet, courting Trump has fatal consequences because it lulls Europeans into a false sense of security. They forget there is strong antipathy in the U.S. government for its European allies; it calls to mind the speech by Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference. It is also unclear after a peaceful summit with Trump how serious his commitment to Article 5 really is. On the flight to the Hague, he spoke of how the mutual defense clause is open to interpretation.
And even if heads of state like Merz tirelessly point out that higher defense spending does not constitute a favor, but rather the decision has been made knowing there is a more serious threat situation, this is, at least, not the whole truth.
Europeans must now decide: Will they continue to kneel or will they stand up to discuss a sovereign NATO with Europe at its center?
Chancellor Friedrich Merz called the NATO meeting in the Hague a “historic summit.” Historic not only in terms of the exorbitantly high defense spending that the member states must now scrape together, but in terms of efforts to please one man: The NATO summit was a singular genuflection before Donald Trump. The 31 allies [of the U.S.] could not plant their metaphorical knees on the blue carpet fast enough. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte stands at the very front bowing the lowest because he has had only one job since it became clear that Trump would be returning to the White House: reconciling Trump and NATO.
And he has more than succeeded in doing so over the past two days. The meeting of the 32 allies was 100% aligned with the U.S. president. No complicated closing statements, no long discussions or critical questions. Even a hotel bed wasn’t good enough for Trump; he stayed overnight in the palace at the king’s invitation. Trump’s thanks? He shared Rutte’s private text message — another written genuflection — on the internet. If someone praises Trump like Rutte does by confidential text, why not show it off?
Fatal Consequences
The summit may be going well for Rutte despite small embarrassments like this one. Especially since the NATO countries were able to agree on a closing statement. And yet, courting Trump has fatal consequences because it lulls Europeans into a false sense of security. They forget there is strong antipathy in the U.S. government for its European allies; it calls to mind the speech by Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference. It is also unclear after a peaceful summit with Trump how serious his commitment to Article 5 really is. On the flight to the Hague, he spoke of how the mutual defense clause is open to interpretation.
And even if heads of state like Merz tirelessly point out that higher defense spending does not constitute a favor, but rather the decision has been made knowing there is a more serious threat situation, this is, at least, not the whole truth.
Europeans must now decide: Will they continue to kneel or will they stand up to discuss a sovereign NATO with Europe at its center?
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