Nato chief warns Europe over defence budgets

Article reports that Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Nato’s secretary-general, issued a stark warning on the 7 February 2011 that European nations 'cannot afford to get out of the security business' by slashing national defence budgets in order to help meet fiscal deficit targets.

As US and Nato officials become increasingly concerned by the decline in European military spending, Mr Fogh Rasmussen warned that too many people in Europe were coming up with 'naive' and 'dangerous' suggestions that the continent should engage in humanitarian projects, leaving the US to do the hard fighting in conflict situations.

Nato’s top diplomat said that over the past two years, defence spending by the alliance’s European member nations has shrunk by some $45bn, a figure equivalent to Germany’s entire annual defence budget.

NATO: Newsroom: Speeches and transcripts: Opinion: Secretary General’s Monthly Press Conference, Brussels, 7 February 2011 http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/opinions_70427.htm

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