Pentagon policy chief calls for NATO to be based on ‘partnership rather than dependency’
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Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby at a NATO defence ministers meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on Feb 12.
PHOTO: REUTERS
BRUSSELS – Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby called on Feb 12 for NATO to be based on “partnership rather than dependency” as he arrived for talks in Brussels with the military alliance’s defence ministers.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth is not attending the meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, with Mr Colby, who holds the Pentagon’s No. 3 post, representing the US instead.
Mr Hegseth’s absence marks the second time in a row that a top Trump administration official has skipped a NATO meeting, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio missed a gathering of the alliance’s foreign ministers
Those absences and repeated tensions between US President Donald Trump and European nations – most recently over Greenland – have prompted fresh questions from European officials and commentators about Washington’s commitment to NATO, which for decades has been the foundation of the continent’s defence.
Mr Trump has repeatedly called on European nations to increase their military spending and take more responsibility for their own security, reducing their reliance on the US.
NATO leaders responded in 2025 by agreeing to spend 5 per cent of their gross domestic product on defence and security-related investments
‘Strong basis’ for working with Europeans
Mr Colby offered some words of reassurance for European allies, declaring that “we have a really strong basis for working together” as European nations had agreed to lead the conventional defence of the continent.
“Now it’s time to march out together, to be pragmatic,” he told reporters, calling for an alliance “based on partnership rather than dependency, and really a return to what NATO was originally intended for”.
In a sign of the shifting balance in the alliance, NATO announced this week that the US will turn over two of its major command posts – in Naples, Italy; and Norfolk, Virginia – to European officers.
At the start of the meeting on Feb 12, NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte said allies were stepping up to take more responsibility.
“We are already seeing significant increases in allied defence spending,” he said.
“Investment is up by tens of billions.” REUTERS
