Kallas denies rift between NATO and EU, rejects calls for a European army

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European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Monday warned against establishing a Europe‑wide army, describing the idea as “extremely dangerous” as debate continues over the bloc’s future defence capabilities.

Speaking at a security conference in Norway, Kallas said the main priority in any military crisis should be maintaining a clear command structure.

“On the European level, we have the ministers of justice meeting all the time, and they already think European, whereas the defence ministers have always been national: national budgets, national decision making,” she said. “Of course, it’s the competence of the member states, nobody’s taking that away, but member states are too small to do it alone. If we do it together, we can actually cover a bigger area. Take air defence, for example. Doing it together is expensive, so we have nine capability areas that we are developing really in collaboration with NATO,” Kallas added.

She argued that creating a separate European army alongside NATO forces could lead to confusion during crises. “If you are already part of NATO then you can’t create a separate army besides the army that you already have. Because in terms of crisis what is the most important is the chain of command: who gives orders to whom. And if you have the European army and then you have the NATO army, then the ball just falls between the chairs and this is extremely, extremely dangerous. That’s why I say we have to strengthen European defence, which is also part of NATO. It is really complementary to NATO. Let’s not throw NATO out of the window,” she concluded.

“Norway is the first line of defence”

Before Kallas’s remarks, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre told delegates that Norway remains NATO’s front line against Russia’s nuclear forces, despite Washington’s rhetoric downplaying the role of European NATO members in defence.

“When I met President Trump for the first time, I said this to him, looked him in the eyes and said, it’s important for a Norwegian prime minister to see a US president in the eye and say: ‘100 kilometres from my border is the world’s largest nuclear arsenal. And it is not directed against me, Mr President, but against you,’” he said. “It makes a difference that we monitor those submarines. We know when they leave port. We know when they test their new weapon systems. And we share it with you, and we collaborate on monitoring that. And that is why I just have to say it rings completely false when the American president stands in Davos saying that ‘we have given everything to NATO and NATO gives nothing in return’. It is wrong.”

Støre also highlighted the scale of upcoming Arctic military drills. “A month from now we will have 25,000 troops exercising in northern Norway, northern Finland. The two largest delegations there, I saw, were the French and the US, 4,000 to 5,000 troops each. And again, this is not charity. This is out of a mutual interest. We will preserve that, we will look after that, and we will remind our American partners about it.”

Rutte: Europe could not defend itself without US support

Recent weeks have seen renewed tension within NATO, fuelled by Donald Trump’s repeated criticism of European allies and threats to annex Greenland, a semi‑autonomous territory of Denmark. NATO Secretary‑General Mark Rutte recently told EU lawmakers that Europe could not defend itself without US support.

Kallas rejected claims of division within NATO, insisting that cooperation between the alliance and the EU had strengthened. “I don’t agree that there’s a rift, actually,” she said. “We are trying to help our member states to increase their defence spending and also do it together with all the other member states and also countries like Norway, so that we are ready. And 23 members of the European Union are also part of NATO, so really we are collaborating with NATO. It is in addition to what NATO is doing, and we really work hand in hand.”

Asked whether she agreed with Rutte’s assessment that Europe could not yet stand on its own without the US, Kallas acknowledged that work remained to be done. “It was very clear on that,” she said. “Well, right now the situation is such, but we are working to be more independent also when it comes to security, because it is clear that our vulnerabilities are our weaknesses. That’s why we are working to invest more in defence, also the capabilities, and to consider it European, not only national.”