The five are seeking ways to maintain their support for Ukraine as US policy is expected to shift when Mr Trump takes power. They also discussed how to strengthen Ukraine’s own weapons production capacity. The German minister, Boris Pistorius, said they all support a just peace for Ukraine, one in which Kiev has a say over its fate. The ministers felt that Trump might conclude a deal with President Putin at their back ignoring the security of the European nations.

There are concerns in Europe that Mr Trump could push Ukraine to make unacceptable concessions to Russia. The ministers also addressed questions of military spending after Mr Trump recently called for NATO allies to increase their spending to 5 per cent of gross domestic product, a level that no NATO member has reached — not even Poland, which is the closest, spending more than 4 per cent. Several of the ministers said that focusing on the number as a percentage isn’t enough.

German defence minister was most aggressive at the meeting against Trump’s suggestions refuting it instantly saying that the implementation of the Trump suggestion would mean that 40 per cent of the German budget will have to be spent on military which Germany can not afford. There was general agreement that in the context of the economic crisis sweeping Europe, it is not desirable to hike spending on military at such a rate.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), military alliance established in 1949 that sought to create a counterweight to Soviet armies stationed in central and eastern Europe after World War II. Following the end of the Cold War, NATO was reconceived as a “cooperative-security” organization. It has 32 member states.

The heart of NATO is expressed in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty (also called the Washington Treaty), which founded the alliance on April 4, 1949. In Article 5, the signatory members agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all; and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defense recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.

NATO invoked Article 5 for the first time in 2001, after the September 11 attacks organized by Osama bin Laden destroyed the World Trade Center in New York City and part of the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C., killing some 3,000 people.

Article 6 defines the geographic scope of the treaty as covering “an armed attack on the territory of any of the Parties in Europe or North America.” Other articles commit the allies to strengthening their democratic institutions, to building their collective military capability, to consulting each other, and to remaining open to inviting other European states to join.

NATO’s original members in 1949 were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The countries that joined NATO after its founding are Greece and Turkey (1952); West Germany (1955; from 1990 as Germany); Spain (1982); the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland (1999); Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia (2004); Albania and Croatia (2009); Montenegro (2017); North Macedonia (2020); Finland (2023); and Sweden (2024).

France withdrew from the integrated military command of NATO in 1966 but remained a member of the organization; it resumed its position in NATO’s military command in 2009.

The big divide between Trump and European NATO members is over assistance to the war in Ukraine which started on February 24, 2022. Ukraine wants to be a member of NATO to which European members of NATO agree. But Trump has taken the position that there is no need for Ukraine to be the member of NATO. In fact he is expected to come to a settlement with President Putin by offering him this concession. President Putin has been adamant on the issue of not allowing Ukraine to be a member of NATO.

Last week Russian officials said that President Putin was interested in Trump’s proposed formula for ending Ukraine war and talks would be held after Trump takes over. The European members are therefore uneasy at the current developments relating to Trump’s views on functioning of NATO. The European nations have apprehensions that the continent would get no help from the US administration after Trump takes over. They will have to fend after themselves in the matter of security. (IPA Service)