Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary General, has already set the timeframe in which Europe must be self-sufficient in Defense. "To defend ourselves," as he pointed out this Thursday: just over five years. "Clearly, we have to do more in Defense, spend more, because we know that we will not be able to defend ourselves in four or five years," Rutte explained before the meeting of Defense ministers being held today in Brussels.
Also present at the meeting was US Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, who not only praised Donald Trump's ability to reach an agreement with Vladimir Putin and achieve peace in Ukraine but also confirmed that the need for self-sufficiency in Europe is real. Because for the new US Administration, the defense of Europeans is no longer a priority. So much so, that the head of the Pentagon has already left Europe's defense against "the Russian war machine" in Europe's hands.
Furthermore, this statement only reinforces what the Pentagon chief himself also stated in Brussels yesterday: "The United States faces serious threats to its own territory. We must focus, and we are focusing, on the security of our own borders as well as prioritizing deterrence of war with China in the Pacific." This means that there will be a reconfiguration of efforts and spending by the US, and they are no longer willing to maintain current levels.