NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte’s Message To Europe: ‘Stop Complaining, Start Acting’

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said this week that the alliance understands the message that President Donald Trump has delivered and it is committed to increasing its defense spending.

Rutte made the remarks during a Fox News interview Monday afternoon as Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Riyadh to pressure Saudi Arabia into helping to force a quick end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Rutte said that the meeting between Trump special envoy General Keith Kellogg and European leaders was “very successful” and that the continent has agreed to “stepping up” its defense spending.

“Last week, I was a bit disappointed that Europeans were saying, ‘Hey, we also have to be at the table. And why are we not there?'” he said. “And they are now really starting to dialog, to strategize how they can support the peace effort, and that is important, because we know that post a peace deal, there will be the need to make that peace deal lasting, enduring.”

He said that he told European leaders who were whining about Trump demanding they do more that they needed to “stop complaining” and “start acting.”

“Get your act together,” he said. “And tonight was an event, an evening, a discussion to really get that done. And what I heard here is people are willing to step up to support a peace deal. Obviously, that means that we still have many details to hammer out, because the whole peace process still has to start, but it is important that there is now more conversations on this and I’m really positive.”

He noted how Trump in the past got European countries in NATO to increase their defense spending by $700 billion, a sum he said was still not enough.

“We have to do much, much more,” he said. “But the good thing is now that we have a process in place by which we can exactly determine what the gaps are in terms of long range missiles, in terms of our armies, in terms of our logistics, in terms of our military mobility, in terms of our air defense, and it will require a lot … more money than we spent so far.”

He added that it was important for NATO to become stronger, not only because it over-relies on the United States, but because other adversaries like China were watching.

“The U.S. is by far the most important ally within NATO, but the U.S. is absolutely right that it is only fair that on the European side of NATO, we ramp up spending because we need to do it for our own defense, but also because it is fair to get this balance with what the U.S. is spending on defense, but that doesn’t mean that U.S. is abandoning Europe,” he said.

WATCH:

Breaking: Paris talks yielding charge of heart from Europe: “They know now they must step up.” Don’t miss my exclusive interview with NATO Secretary General @SecMarkrutte pic.twitter.com/tq9Mlxz3sR

— Martha MacCallum (@marthamaccallum) February 17, 2025