Trump administration warns EU to quit efforts for 'European Army'

Washington/Brussels: If ‘NATO’ wants to continue receiving the US support that it has received up until now then the EU member nations need to quit their efforts of raising an independent ‘European Army’, strictly warned the US’s new Trump administration. This claim has been made based on the assurance of the British authorities that are active in the US defence headquarters. The new US President, Donald Trump had warned that NATO has become obsolete and of cutting down the support that the US has been providing to NATO. Based on these events, this new warning proves to be crucial.

The British Officials at the Pentagon informed that currently the political atmosphere in Eastern Europe is extremely heated and at the same time there is deficit pressure on the budget. Under such circumstances, there can be only one joint army active in Europe and that would be NATO’s. These officials have also claimed that the new US administration and its military officials are unhappy with the proposal of an ‘European Army’.

The authorities have informed that the Senior military officials outlining US policies want an increased participation from the European nations. Nevertheless, it is also possible that NATO’s own source would be used for an independent European Army. Therefore, fierce concern is being voiced within the US political circle on the objectives of an independent European Army and the growing discussions concerning it. Sources from the Trump administration have hinted that the new US President, Donald Trump would be attending the NATO session this year and would be raising this issue there.

Sources from the US administration have warned by saying that President Trump is more interested in numbers and thus, he would be questioning the participation of the other European nations while the US is deploying 6 battalions in Europe. Also, excluding the US and Germany, Britain and France from Europe, one cannot deny the possibility of questions being raised over cooperation from other countries, say these sources. They have also said that President Trump is aware of the fact that if the US decides to give even 1% of its defence expenditure to NATO then that can be used to pressurise the other member nations of NATO for deployment.

During his election campaigns, Trump had assured of raising thousands of US soldiers and hundreds of warships and fighter planes. For this reason, the US defence department will have to make preparations for raising surplus funds of more than a staggering 100 billion dollars. President Trump’s close aides claim that he would be focussing on the former US President Ronald Reagan’s policy of ‘Peace through Strength’.

The sources from the Trump administration have also claimed that the motive behind President Trump’s statement of NATO being ‘obsolete’ was to bring about revolutionary changes in this organisation. A former Officer and leading analyst of the US’s ‘Defence For Europe and NATO Policy’, Ian Brzezinski drew attention towards this issue. He claimed that the appointment of Gen. James Mattis as the Secretary of Defence and that of Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti as the Supreme Allied Military Commander of Europe, was a part of a policy to bring about a ‘change’ in NATO.

Brzezinski criticised the establishment of an independent European Army by stating that Banking on the financial strength of 17 trillion dollars to bring about economic development and democratic reforms has been Europe’s effective weapon. However, when they speak the language of an independent military command, they are just mimicking it which cannot be of any use. The strength of NATO and the EU mutually complement each other and no one is to gain by constructing an economic system.