{"id":580896,"date":"2025-11-19T18:09:29","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T18:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/580896\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T18:09:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T18:09:29","slug":"us-wants-germany-to-take-over-as-nato-commander-trump-envoy-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/580896\/","title":{"rendered":"US wants Germany to take over as Nato commander, Trump envoy says"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The United States<\/a> wants Germany<\/a> to take over the command of Nato<\/a> forces in Europe, Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s envoy to the alliance has said. <\/p>\n

Matthew Whitaker<\/a>, the US ambassador to Nato<\/a>, said he is looking forward to Germany<\/a> stepping up to take over the position of Supreme Allied Commander Europe (Saceur).<\/p>\n

He told the Berlin Security Conference: \u201cI look forward to the day when Germany<\/a> comes to the United States and says that we\u2019re ready to take over the Supreme Allied Commander position. I think we\u2019re a long way away from that, but I look forward to those discussions.\u201d<\/p>\n

His comments were a shock to the panelists, with Germany\u2019s representative to Nato and the EU responding that he \u201csee[s] it a little bit differently\u201d. <\/p>\n

Lt Gen Wolfgang Wien told the panel that his country was willing to take on more responsibilities within the international organisation, but sees the Saceur as US territory. <\/p>\n

\"Matthew<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Matthew Whitaker is the US ambassador to Nato (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The Saceur is one of Nato\u2019s two strategic commanders and is at the head of Allied Command Operations. <\/p>\n

Traditionally, the position is held by a US commander. The current Saceur is General Alexus G. Grynkewich, who took up his functions on 4 July 2025. <\/p>\n

In a post on X about the conference, Mr Whitaker said his message is that the allies \u201cmust deliver on Hague Summit obligations\u201d. <\/p>\n

He listed these as \u201cinvest in defence, boost industrial cooperation, build resilience, protect cohesion – our greatest strategic advantage\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"General<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

General Alexus G. Grynkewich is Nato\u2019s current Saceur (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

It comes as the European Union rolled out a new defence package on Wednesday to allow tanks and troops to deploy more rapidly across the many borders of the 27-nation bloc in the event of a conflict, as concern mounts that Russia<\/a> is already probing its defences. <\/p>\n

Europe’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said that spending on defence now might avert war. <\/p>\n

“Weakness invites them to make their move,” she said, speaking of Russia. She said if the EU increases its defensive capabilities and readiness, “then Russia will not attack because we are not weak\u201d. <\/p>\n

The new military mobility proposal by the EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, would invest 17.65 billion euro ($20.4 billion) into 500 locations that have been identified as choke points, such as bridges, ports and tunnels currently unable to handle heavy traffic and vehicles. <\/p>\n

The defence package underscored a change in geopolitics spurred on by Trump, who has called into question 80 years of cooperation based on the understanding that the US would help protect European nations following World War II. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580897,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[2000,299,1824],"class_list":{"0":"post-580896","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-germany"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115577708877650666","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}