U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday once again expressed his irritation with NATO allies who did not grant him access to military bases or provided other forms of assistance in the war in Iran. At the start of a meeting in the Oval Office with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, the president mentioned Germany, Italy, Britain and France, although he directed his harshest criticism at Spain and what he considers to be that country’s unwillingness to fulfill its NATO obligations. “Spain is a horror show. Spain is terrible. I was disappointed with Italy. I was disappointed with the UK. We were disappointed with Germany and France. We’re disappointed with most of them. They don’t want to pay anything. They think they’re in for a free ride,” he said.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is in Washington this week to try to smooth over tensions between Donald Trump and European allies over defense spending and Europe’s position on the war with Iran, two weeks before the Alliance’s crucial summit in Ankara, Turkey. But his remarks, made before a closed-door meeting this afternoon with the U.S. president at the White House, have only fueled the controversy.
After reaching a provisional agreement with Iran to end the war, the president and his Department of Defense have once again made clear their disdain for NATO, which they consider a waste of money and of little or no use to Washington; after announcing in May a reduction of 5,000 U.S. troops in Germany, he is now conducting a six-month review of the presence of U.S. troops and equipment on the continent.
Rutte is considered one of the European leaders best able to connect with Trump, thanks, above all, to his ability to appeal to the president’s ego. At last year’s NATO summit in The Hague, he even called him “Daddy.” This time, knowing that the U.S. president prefers visuals to text, he came prepared with a series of large charts that he presented in the Oval Office to defend NATO and its European partners. One of them showed the growth in European defense spending—“Trump’s trillion,” he flattered him—and another showed the increase in the Old Continent’s investment in the United States.
Despite his defense of Europeans, Rutte’s initial remarks—made before meeting with the U.S. president at the White House—have further fueled the controversy. Amid the clash between Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni over Rome’s refusal to allow the use of its bases for the Iran war, Rutte stated in an interview with Fox News that 500 U.S. military flights took off from those bases to participate in the conflict.
Rutte was seeking to send the message that Italy and other European partners are allies the United States can rely on, and to placate Trump, who is a keen viewer of Fox News. But Rutte’s words provoked an angry protest from Italy, where the Iran conflict is deeply unpopular. “It is surprising that the secretary-general, who has nothing to do with Operation Epic Fury, offers a reconstruction that sends a completely misleading message by confusing the type of flights that were authorized,” said the Italian Defense Ministry.
Italy “has always acted in full respect of the Constitution, international treaties and parliamentary guidelines,” and has not allowed under any circumstances offensive or combat activities that fall outside its current rules, the Italian government insists in a statement referring to the statement made to Parliament by the minister in charge, Guido Crosetto, who said only “technical and logistical activities, not combat activities, were authorized, within the procedures provided for in the existing agreements.” Washington has more than 12,600 service members deployed at its four bases on Italian soil: Vicenza, Aviano, Naples and Sicily.
Denial of use
In March Rome refused U.S. use of the Sigonella base on the island of Sicily for flights related to the war in Iran, determining that those were neither technical nor logistical activities as defined by the treaties. Any use of those facilities, the Meloni government says, is decided “case by case.”
Rutte’s words, however, have rubbed salt into the wound. Trump and Meloni, strong allies until recently, drifted apart after the latter refused to allow use of her country’s bases for the war in the Middle East. Although at last week’s G-7 summit in Évian-les-Bains, France, the two appeared to reconcile, in a brief telephone interview Trump lashed out at the prime minister, saying she had “begged” him to take a selfie with her at that meeting and again raised the issue of the bases. Meloni responded that neither she nor Italy “beg” and reminded him that her country is sovereign.
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