In Munich, Germany’s Defence Minister Boris Pistorius expressed the conviction that Europe must take on significantly greater responsibility for the continent’s conventional defense, while preserving the United States’ strategic and nuclear support.
The statement came during the Munich Security Conference, where a new balance of roles between Europe and the United States in the context of defense policy and transatlantic commitments was discussed.
“The next section of our partnership depends on a clear and fair distribution of responsibility: Europe must take the lead in ensuring strong conventional forces and bear greater responsibility for its neighborhood, while the United States, for the foreseeable future, will continue to provide strategic and nuclear support. The United States has very clearly expressed this new burden-sharing arrangement, and Europe is acting. NATO is becoming more European in order to stay transatlantic,” said Pistorius.
– Boris Pistorius
“Even the United States cannot act alone in the contemporary world of rising great powers. They need allies. Having more than 30 of them, united in one powerful alliance, is truly unique. It makes the United States stronger than any other great power and, most importantly, stronger than its adversaries. But our alliance must also make sense for Europe. It depends on the predictability of actions and the reliability of American commitments” – Pistorius said.
– Boris Pistorius
Noting that doubts about the territorial integrity and sovereignty of NATO members, as well as their participation in negotiation processes, complicate the continent’s collective security, Pistorius stressed the importance of European stability within the framework of the alliance.
According to the German defense minister, Germany has already radically changed its approach to defense: planned spending at around 3.5% of GDP by 2029, reformed military service, a significant increase in investments in the defense industry, a deployed combat brigade in Lithuania, and strengthening the eastern flank of NATO.
Among the threats he highlighted the revival of terrorism in southern Europe, Russian revisionism in the east in cooperation with China, Iran and North Korea, and Moscow and Beijing’s preparations for power projection in the Arctic.
Overall, Pistorius’s remarks underscore NATO’s aim to combine European defense autonomy with a strong transatlantic bond, shaping a new security architecture for the continent.