European Union Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton was asked, during an interview he gave to the LCI television network, about the statements made yesterday by Trump, who is likely to receive the nomination of the Republican Party for the presidential elections in the US this year.
Two European officials criticized Donald Trump today over comments the former US president made about not protecting underpaid NATO allies from a potential Russian invasion.
European Union Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton was asked, during an interview he gave to the LCI television network, about the statements made yesterday by Trump, who is likely to receive the nomination of the Republican Party for the presidential elections in the US this year.
“We can’t throw out crown-letters about our security every four years depending on this or that electoral contest, especially the US presidential election,” Breton said, adding that EU leaders understood the union needed to strengthen its own military spending and capabilities.
Polish Minister of Defense Władysław Kośniak-Kamiz also took a position on the matter.
“NATO’s motto “one for all, all for one” is a clear commitment. Undermining the credibility of allied countries means weakening the entire NATO,” he wrote in a message on the X social media platform.
“No election campaign is an excuse to play with the safety of the Pact.”
Officials at NATO headquarters in Brussels did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. The NATO Treaty includes a provision guaranteeing the mutual defense of members if one of them is attacked.
Trump, who during a political rally yesterday in South Carolina appeared to recount a meeting with NATO leaders, said the president of a “major country,” which he did not name, asked him, “Well sir if we don’t pay, and we get attacked by Russia – will you protect us?’
“I said: ‘Didn’t you pay? Are you careless?’ He said, ‘Yes, let’s say that happened.’ No, I wouldn’t protect you. In fact I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You have to pay,” Trump said.
“We’ve heard this before… Nothing new,” Breton noted, adding:
“Maybe he has memory issues, actually he was a female president, not of a country, but of the European Union,” referring to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and a conversation she had with Trump in 2020.
Source :Skai
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